


One Last Chance

by SportsnAnimeManiac (sktrgrl13)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Betrayal, Drama & Romance, Fluff and Angst, Forgiveness, Gen, High School Drama, Language, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Military Inaccuracies, More like Pining, Secrets, Sick Character, Slow Build, Sort Of, Team as Family, There is Just a Lot of Baggage, Transcends All Time, and miscommunication, army shiro, i am trying, they do love each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-04-26 23:13:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14412558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sktrgrl13/pseuds/SportsnAnimeManiac
Summary: Ten years have passed since Lance McClain graduated high school and left his small hometown of Arus behind -- but now he has finally returned. With a bright future ahead, a degree under his belt and a healing heart, he thought that his life would be smooth sailing from there on out... until he learns that the things that happened ten years ago were never as they seemed.





	1. The Humble Hero Returns

**Author's Note:**

> SO.  
> Apparently having two stories on the go for Voltron wasn't enough...  
> Why not go for THREE?!?!  
> I truly am insane aren't I???  
> Clearly I need to get my priorities in order -.-  
> BUT I JUST LOVE VOLTRON SO MUCH!!!  
> Regardless, I hope you enjoy the opening chapter to this new fic! Once I again I apologise for any OOC-ness and inaccuracies!  
> Buckle up my pretties and get ready for a (somewhat) bumpy ride!~
> 
> -SportsnAnimeManiac

Lance couldn’t stop the soft smile from spreading across his lips as he walked down the streets that he still knew like the back of his hand. The burning hot sun was beating down on his shoulders as people, both young and old, flocked the streets of Arus. Just watching everyone move about the town was enough to send the memories rushing back full force; all the things he did growing up and the trouble that he and his friends used to get into. It wasn’t uncommon for them to be chased around town by Sheriff Iverson and his cronies. 

His smile tilted into a smirk as he walked by his old high school; the large, grandeur building looming over him as he passed. Even after ten years, Altea High still had that majestic, castle-like feeling to it; the five lions emblazoned on the front of the school further proving that point. 

The best days of his life happened in that pristine, white building and sometimes he would give anything to go back. At the age of 28,  he was now out of university and had just finished his first residency at a hospital in the next city over. Sure, Olkarion was great and everything, but it would never compare to the feelings that he had felt as soon as he set foot in the Arus town limits.

In most ways, everything still seemed the same, but in others…

Everything was so different. 

No one was the same silly teenager they were in high school. 

He tried to keep track of all his friends as best as he could, but they all inevitably drifted apart; going to different universities and pursuing other paths were bound to do that.

There was no way they could stay ‘The Paladins of Voltron’ forever.

Lance sighed sadly and shoved his hands in his pockets before continuing down the road. He glanced at the different stores as he made his way down the crowded street and found his eyes being drawn to a beige building with a dark roof. He felt his eyes widen when he recognized the name that was emblazoned on the front. He all but ran through the front door with a calm chime of the bell announcing his entrance.

As the door shut behind him, a man with greying orange hair glanced up at him from the front counter. To Lance, the man standing before him had changed greatly since he left all those years ago; Coran Hieronymous Wimbleton Smythe was  _ old _ . Wrinkles had started to appear on Coran’s face and the crow’s feet at the corner of the older man’s green eyes seemed to have grown deeper over the years. 

Coran stared at Lance with wide disbelieving eyes before a broad, familiar smile spread across his face. The older man dashed from behind the counter and pulled the brunet into a tight hug before ruffling Lance’s hair affectionately.

“Lance-quiznacking-McClain,” He laughed jovially as he pulled back a bit to stare into Lance’s face, “Long time no see, m’boy!”

The brunet rubbed the back of his neck and laughed with him,

“Hello Coran, it sure has been a while hasn’t it?”

The older man twisted his still, ever present moustache and winked,

“I’d say! I was beginning to wonder if you were ever actually going to return to us; what have you been doing with your life these days?”

Lance simple shrugged his shoulders as he pushed his hands casually into his pockets; attempting to hide his budding anxiousness,

“I actually just finished my residency in Olkarion; I thought that I should pop in for a visit and say hello to the folks before moving on, you know how it is.”

The orange haired man hummed almost knowingly as he headed towards the counter; causing the younger male to shrink in on himself. He really was never able to hide too much from Coran. Lance followed him and leaned against the counter as the man started to mark some papers with pen. The brunet let his ocean blue eyes wander the shop; he couldn’t be happier for the man, he had always said he wanted to open an antique shop. 

Lance walked over to the vases closest to him and marveled at a much older looking one. Although it was chipped in places and maybe a little worn for wear, he could still make out the red colours and wave-like designs along the pottery. For a moment, he found his mind wandering to an overcast day in the middle of Spring; school had just been let out for Easter break… 

_ Grade Four was about three-quarters done now and Lance couldn’t have been happier; he was getting sick of teachers telling him to stop fooling around and start acting his age. It’s not his fault that he had trouble sitting still sometimes. _

_ Lance huffed causing a cloud of warm air to escape his mouth; he glanced around in an attempt to find someone to walk home together with. He was about to give up on the endeavor when his blue eyed gaze landed on that of a familiar raven. His head was tilted towards the sky and his arms were spread out wide as if he were trying to embrace the clouds as they moved, but that wasn’t even the strange part. _

_ No. _

_ The strange part was  _ he was smiling _. _

_ Never in all the years that he had known him, has he ever seen the raven with a smile like that on his pale face; it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever had the chance to see… _

He shook himself out of the memory with a soft chuckle as he moved away from the shelf. His eyes drifted back to Coran and felt his cheeks flush from the knowing smile spreading across the man’s lips. 

“So,” Lance smiled, “How’s Allura doing?”

Coran stopped what he was doing completely as a chuckle escaped him. Lance raised an eyebrow at him as the older man dug through his pockets and pulled out an old battered wallet that was covered with duct tape. He flipped the wallet open and grabbed something from it before walking over to the brunet and handing a photo over to him. 

Lance barely stopped his mouth from dropping open when he saw a very grown up Allura staring back at him. The sort of awkward, but extremely beautiful teenage girl he once knew had grown to be an even  _ more beautiful _ woman; you know, if that was possible. Lance smiled softly as he saw another familiar face standing in the photo with a strong arm wrapped around her waist.

“She’s dating Shiro, huh?” Lance laughed brightly, “I really shouldn’t be so surprised.”

Coran rubbed the back of his head as he laughed, “Took the boy months to ask her out; it got so bad that Matt and the others brought it upon themselves to match them up.”

Lance felt a chill travel up his spine at the mention of his old friends; it seems that he was the only one to pull away after all.

Well, him and that hot-headed idiot no doubt.

Lance masked his nervous chuckle as a cough and returned the photo back to Coran. The older man seemed to look him over for a moment before the corner of his mouth curled upwards slightly. 

“You should go visit the park by the riverbed,” He twirled his moustache and glanced at Lance pointedly, “It’s changed a lot since you were last here you know.”

Lance felt a warm feeling spread throughout his chest at the mention of the old riverbed. Like the high school, this place held special memories for him. It held the memories of a tough as nails raven, a devious gremlin, a friendly giant, the memelord of all memelords, the quintessential Dad-Friend, and a Princess for them all to protect.

Although things had undoubtedly changed since back then, that riverbed would always remain a special place for him. He thanked his old mentor before waving goodbye and leaving the shop. 

As the door shut behind him, he failed to see a satisfied smirk spread across Coran’s face. 

VLDVLDLVLDVLD

Lance stood by the river and watched as the afternoon sun shone down on the blue water causing it to sparkle like little diamonds. Children’s laughter echoed in the background, but it didn’t really bother him; he was glad that kids still found this park fun. Before he left, the town was thinking about tearing it down; but, ‘the Paladins’ put an end to that very quickly. Sure, he had just graduated high school and shouldn’t have cared about some dingy old park, but he couldn’t help himself. 

The playground was where he lost his first tooth, broke his first bone, got into his first fight and had his first kiss. There was no way he was going to let it get torn down and neither were the others. 

He was effectively pulled out of his thoughts when something collided with the back of his knees. 

The brunet turned around and found a small boy staring up at him with wide grey eyes. Tears were welling in them and his bottom lip was quivering. Lance knelt down on his knees so that they were the same height and immediately noticed the scraped knee and the mark on the boy’s cheek.

“Careful there little guy,” Lance smiled lightly as he went to pat his head comfortingly, “Are you alright?”

The small boy stared up at him in confusion before dropping his eyes to the ground and mumbling under his breath. The brunet couldn’t quite understand what he was saying, but this action reminded him of someone he used to know; he just couldn’t quite remember who. He reached out to take the boy’s hand, to help him find his parents, when a loud and angry voice caused him to jump a mile into the air. 

He was pretty sure that he had almost given him a heart attack. 

“If you don’t step away from him right now, I’m going to punch you so hard that you’re going to be breathing out of your ass!”

Lance glanced towards the source of the voice and felt his mouth drop open unattractively. Standing before him was a raven haired man with deep indigo eyes and a permanent scowl etched on his smooth alabaster skin. But what had got him the most was one feature…

A feature that only one person would be lame enough to keep after all these years. 

Lance laughed good-heartedly and ruffled his hair in embarrassment before smirking:

“Hey there Mullet,” He teased, “Fancy meeting you here!”

The paler man froze in his tracks, his eyes widening comically and his mouth also dropping slightly in surprise; however, it wasn’t long before a barely noticeable smirk adorned his face as well. 

The raven shoved his hands in his pockets as he approached the taller male; when he stood in front of them, he bent down and lifted the small boy into his arms. Lance couldn’t stop himself from gawking; no wonder the kid looked familiar. The small raven buried his face into the crook of his ex-rival and best friend’s neck as they reached out and grabbed each other’s forearms.

“Well, if it isn’t the goofball,” He teased, “Didn’t know you were back in town.”

Lance shrugged his shoulders noncommittally before releasing Keith’s forearm and shoving his hands in his pockets once more,

“I didn’t even know  I would end up here, let alone run into you and your...kid? Man, I never believed that you would have a son before me.”

Keith stared at him blankly before rolling his eyes and turning his head to stare at the boy in his arms,

“He’s not mine.”

Lance arched an eyebrow teasingly,

“Seriously man, you can’t fool me on this one -- he looks just like you.”

The shorter man’s shoulders seemed to hunch slightly as he scowled defensively; Lance swore that he could feel Keith’s shields rising back up. 

“ _ Lance _ , you know very well that I’m as straight as a roundabout, he’s  _ Shiro’s _ son; I’m just watching over him.”

Lance felt himself choke,

“Sh-Shiro’s son? Shiro has a SON?!”

Keith rolled his eyes in annoyance before he seemingly decided that he was over the conversation. The raven moved to turn on his heel and march away; his retreating back sparking a sense of guilt and a burning feeling in his chest. Instinctively, the brunet stepped forward and grabbed the back of Keith’s shirt in a tight grasp to ensure that the raven wouldn’t go anywhere. 

The indigo eyed man turned his head and stared at Lance in annoyance before something seemed to shift. Keith’s eyes softened as he faced him and carefully untangled his  _ nephew _ from his neck,

“Lance,”

It had been a long, long time since Keith had called him by his first name. 

Ever since they had met each other, they had always just called each other by the silly nicknames they came up with in Grade School. The awkwardness that lingered between them for that brief moment quickly dissipated when Keith continued speaking.

“Can you just watch Jou for me while I go find Seth?” 

Lance nodded his head robotically and accepted the young boy in his arms as Keith shifted him over. Before Lance could even utter a word, the raven had run off into the direction of the playground once more. The brunet glanced down at the smaller raven in his arms and found deep grey eyes staring up at him with an intensity that only Keith himself had been able to manage. 

Despite being Shiro’s son, Jou certainly was the spitting image of Keith; it was almost uncanny. 

Jou tilted his head to the side contemplatively before smiling broadly; his front tooth seemingly missing, “Fwend?”

Okay, this kid was adorable.

Leave it to Shiro to have a freaking adorable son.

Lance practically felt himself melting on the inside just looking at him. The brunet chuckled before nodding his head in confirmation causing the small raven’s smile to broaden even further. Lance  ruffled the small raven’s hair,

“So, how old are you?”

The raven blinked owlishly at him before holding up five fingers,

“Four!”

Lance smiled at the boy fondly, when something in his mind suddenly clicked.

If Jou was Shiro’s son...did that mean that _ Allura _ …

The brunet was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard two voices approaching. He turned his head and saw that Keith was approaching both himself and Jou at a brisk pace. He was holding the hand of another pale boy, but his hair colour was that of platinum blond and was a little wavy. 

The boy’s eyes were the same as Jou’s that rare grey that no one in Arus seemed capable of having; however, as the pair got closer, he could see flecks of light blue in his eyes as well; the same light blue that he recognized from Allura herself.

Well that answered his other question.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting,” Keith huffed; clearly annoyed as he forced the other boy to stop, “I had to chase this little monster around the playground five times before I finally caught him.”

Lance smiled teasingly,

“Wow Samurai, did you get that out of shape over the past ten years?”

Keith pouted in response and looked away; once again ignoring the comment. Lance chuckled under his breath fondly, but felt his eyes wandering towards the other boy who was attached to Keith’s hand.

The silver haired boy, whose name must’ve been Seth if he remembered correctly, was glaring up at Keith with his arms crossed over his chest. If Lance thought that Jou looked like Keith, Seth had nothing on him. Even though he did look like Allura in some features, Seth had somehow inherited Keith’s defiant personality. 

Truly if Lance didn’t know any better he would argue that these two boys  _ were  _ Keith’s sons.

The raven pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled deeply. 

Lance has known Keith long enough to know when he was going to lose his temper and this was definitely one of those times. He put Jou on the ground so that the smaller raven could be with his older brother. The brunet knelt down in front of Seth and smiled softly,

“Hey, the name’s Lance; I went to school with your parents and uncle.”

The silver haired boy glared up at the twenty-eight year old man with hate in his eyes,

“You’re the one who hurt Uncle’s feelings.”

Lance blinked owlishly at the younger boy as the silverette continued to glare at him darkly. The brunet forced his face to remain smiling as he looked up at Keith in order to gage his reaction. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he watched brief panic and hurt flash across the older raven’s face; however, as fast as the expressions were there, the faster they were gone and Keith’s old mask of indifference slid across his face. Lance couldn’t help but frown slightly in response. Keith leaned down to pick up Jou, who just seemed plain confused before clapping a hand down on Seth’s shoulder. 

“Seth,” The raven stated sternly; refusing to look in Lance’s direction, “Apologise right now; that was impolite.”

Seth huffed angrily and folded his arms across his chest as he hissed bitterly,

“Sorry.”

It was obvious to Lance that the boy didn’t mean it; he didn’t need a medical degree in order to figure that out. 

He nodded his head and acknowledgement and tried to make eye contact with Keith, only to fail miserably. What else was he expecting? The stupid mullet was always good at avoiding things he didn’t want to talk about. The two stood in awkward silence when Lance sighed silently and dug around in his jean pockets before pulling out his iPhone. He scrolled over to his Contacts and quickly shoved his phone in front of Keith’s nose causing the other to go cross eyed. 

“I’m going to be in town for a couple weeks, so just put your number in or something just in case you want to hangout.” 

Keith seemed to stare at the device for a moment before he lifted his hand off Seth’s shoulder and grabbed it. Lance watched as the raven quickly typed in a number and gave the phone back to him. Keith latched onto the oldest boy’s hand and smiled at him as he started to tug the boy in the opposite direction.

“See you later Mullet,” Lance called after him, “Don’t be a stranger, yeah?”

The raven nodded his head and raised his hand to indicate that he had heard him. As Lance watched his old best friend walking away, he stared down at his phone and smiled faintly when he saw the curse word in place of his contact name.

“Even after ten years,” He chuckled under his breath, “it’s nice to see you haven’t changed Red.”


	2. The Hero's Return is Not so Bright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After separating from Keith at the riverbed, Lance runs into two more of his friends -- typically reunions are supposed to be all smiles and laughter, but leave it to Keith of all people to ruin it; even if he wasn't actually there to do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya Minna~
> 
> Welcome to yet another update -- not a lot is going on in this Chapter, just setting up some drama and such for the story; because what is Klance without Klangst? And quite honestly what happens in this chapter is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter regardless and that the OOCness of the characters don't bother you too greatly!
> 
> Thank you so much for all the support!

Lance found himself lingering at the riverbed park after Keith left for a few more minutes. Part of him was still reeling from the fact that he had actually managed to run into Keith Kogane of all people. Out of all of their friends Lance had expected Keith to leave Arus the fastest. 

It wasn’t in his nature to stay in one place for long.

Lance rolled his eyes to himself and adjusted the collar of his olive green jacket and slowly made his way out of the park; it truly wasn’t his problem anyway.

Even if he was curious.

Just a little bit.

He was halfway down the sidewalk, and completely prepared to start his journey to his parents’ house, when he noticed a heavy-set man with a golden headband standing near the stop lights; even from this distance he could see the man fidgeting as he waited for the light to change. Lance laughed to himself as he snuck up behind the unsuspecting figure and clamped his free hand down on his shoulder. The dark headed boy squeaked, a sound not usual for one of his stature, and nearly fell over when he suddenly righted himself and whipped around to face Lance.

“Hey man, do you need some...” Honey eyes widened comically, “Lance?!”

The brunet smiled brightly and embraced his old friend,

“Hi buddy, long-time no see!”

Hunk Garrett’s mouth dropped open as he pulled him into a tight hug and squeezed him so hard that Lance could feel his lungs failing. He awkwardly patted him on the back and laughed deep in his chest. He smiled into the crook of Hunk’s neck and was quite content to stay there. He probably would have too, if someone hadn’t cleared their throat from behind them. Hunk’s grip loosened on him enough for him to look over his shoulder and see a familiar hazel haired woman.

“Shay!” Lance smiled brightly as he tried to regain his breath, “How are you, Hunk’s beautiful soulmate?”

The corner of Shay’s lips twitched in amusement as she returned his smile,

“Very well, thank you Lance; I could ask the same of you, but you’re getting hugged so tightly by my fiance that I fear you might not be able to answer any time soon.”

Lance’s eyes widened as he gripped Hunk’s shoulders in excitement; he looked from Hunk to Shay and back again,

“You guys are engaged?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Hunk laughed before slapping him across the shoulder so hard he was pretty sure he would have a bruise. Lance rubbed his shoulder as the Samoan smiled at him reassuringly,

“I just asked her earlier today; I haven’t actually gotten around to telling anyone yet...plus, you’ve been a little hard to get a hold of lately.”

Lance folded his arms across his chest and tried to pout, but a smile kept trying to worm its way onto his face; even if he did feel a stab of guilt from the last comment. He was really happy for them; they had been together the longest out of everyone in their group. The quintessential high school sweethearts come to life. 

“So Lance,” Hunk pulled him out of his thoughts, “What are you doing back in Arus; last I heard, you were finishing up your residency still.”

“Well…”

Who was he kidding he really didn’t know  _ where  _ to begin with that entire fiasco.

“Are you still seeing that girl you told me about last time we talked, or?”

Whatever was about to spring onto Lance’s lips immediately died at the mention of his now ex-girlfriend and the biggest regret of his life. He chuckled forcefully as he ran his fingers through his hair. He had to stop himself from shrinking back when he felt his friend’s stare boring into his head.

“Lance, what did you do?”

The brunet flinched and locked his eyes on the grey pavement,

“ **I** didn’t do anything.”

He felt a hand clasp down on his shoulder once more causing him to lift his head. The raven was staring at him with a mix of guiltiness and confusion. Lance looked over hiser shoulder and saw that Shay had the same expression on her face. 

He could understand their reasons after all; he  _ had _ thrown away almost everything for this girl.

Including his connection to them. 

“What happened?” Hunk whispered emphatically.

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and swallowed back a wince. Keith and Pidge have both told him time and time again that Hunk was too good for his ass, and once again he could completely agree with them.

“Nyma and I…uh…we broke up.”

Lance almost wanted to laugh at Hunk’s dumbfounded expression; he would’ve laughed if the pain didn’t hurt so much. He smiled weakly at his friends as he continued speaking,

“We, uh, just realized that it wouldn’t work out; there was already some strain between us during the years we went to university together. And I guess when I started my residency at the hospital things just kind of spiraled out of control…”

All three of them were silent for a moment before Hunk spoke again,

“I’m going to need a little more than that buddy -- last we heard everything was  _ great _ and you were  _ completely in love _ ; that was months ago, Lance.”

He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets guiltily,

“And I am really sorry about that; I never thought something like that would happen.”

“I know that, we know that,” Hunk soothed him, “But you still need to tell us what happened.”

Lance glanced back up at him as he fiddled his fingers and rambled,

“Well, with residency being as demanding as it is I wasn’t home that often and if I was home, I was dead tired; I guess I just didn’t give her enough attention or she didn’t think I loved her anymore. Anyways, one night I came home early because it was our anniversary and I wanted to surprise her…”

Shay released a hiss behind her teeth and regarded him sadly as she muttered,

“I really don’t like where this is going.”

“Yeah, it definitely isn’t anything good,” He laughed self-deprecatingly, “When I got home she was making out with Rolo, on the couch.”

Hunk’s jaw dropped open for what felt like the millionth time in a half hour,

“Rolo, you mean that  _ guy _ who was always at your apartment with the two of you?”

Lance shrugged his shoulders,

“Yup.”

“But…I thought she couldn’t stand him,” Shay stated in confusion, “She used to always complain about him and how lazy he was.”

“I guess, people change.”

Silence engulfed the three of them once more as what Lance said sunk in. 

Hunk looked as though he was genuinely annoyed by what was said; his nose had even slightly curled in disgust. It had been a long time since something had made  _ Hunk Garrett _ , the lovable teddy bear, pissed off. The brunet huffed under his breath; this was exactly the reason why he didn’t want to return to Arus. 

He didn’t want his old friends learning about what happened because he didn’t want to bother them with his problems.

It truly was his mess of a life anyways.

“Have you seen anyone else other than us?” Shay asked tentatively in an effort to change the subject.

Lance smiled gratefully at the taller woman,

“I stopped by Altea High, saw Coran at his shop, wandered to the riverbed, and I saw Mullet and his nephews at the park...though, they seemed more like his sons if you ask me; still trying to figure that one out.”

“Wait, you saw Keith?” Hunk looked at him curiously.

The brunet folded his arms across his chest,

“Yeah; he didn’t recognize me at first, which you know  _ typical Keith _ if you ask me, and almost beat the shit out of me for trying to help Jou...”

He trailed off when he noticed that Hunk was watching him with a strained expression and furrowed eyebrows. He glanced over at Shay and noticed that she seemed stiff as well. That’s strange. He arched a thin brow and waited for his friends to tell him what was going on; something just wasn’t right about this. 

Hunk sighed sadly and leaned against Shay’s frame as the dark haired woman wrapped an arm around his lower back. Lance didn’t like the unease that was beginning to build in his chest; sure he has been gone for a while, and might not have been good at keeping in contact, but to be left out of the loop like this.

_ There was something more that he was missing _ .

“What happened?” He demanded, “Did the Mullet do something stupid  _ again _ ?”

Hunk shifted slightly and averted his gaze anxiously,

“I, I don’t know how much he would want me to tell you Lance; you know how he is.”

His gaze hardened as he stared at the pair,

“Hunk.”

He started to wave his hands about placatingly.

“I really am sorry Lance, but…”

Lance sighed and folded his arms across his chest defensively. 

He shifted his gaze to the treeline and watched as the wind played with the leaves. Just by feeling the warm wind, he could tell that summer was slowly starting to overtake spring; it made his hair stand up on his arms. Lance exhaled through his nose in an effort to calm himself as he returned his attention to the friends standing in front of him.

Hunk played with his hands nervously before addressing the brunet again,

“Listen, you...you really have nothing to worry about Lance.”

“What?” He whispered in disbelief, “Hunk, buddy, you can’t tell me not to worry; not about something like this.”

“I  _ know _ ,” Hunk winced as he finally let his hands drop down to his sides, “but, Keith should really be the one to tell you this himself.”

Lance found himself running his hand through his hair in frustration.

“Yeah, alright.”

Hunk released a huge sigh of relief,

“Good, good, that’s…”

The taller male paused and any relief that surfaced immediately drained away,

“You’re lying to me aren’t you.”

Lance opened his eyes and regarded his friend’s expressions closely,

“C’mon Hunk, you know me better than that; since when have I  _ ever _ waited on Keith to tell me anything?”

Hunk placed his hands on Lance’s shoulder tightly. 

He was about to tell him to loosen his hands when he noticed the tanned appendages quivering. He stared into his friend’s golden eyes and he recognized the tears that were slowly swimming beneath the surface. 

“Seriously pal,” Lance huffed, “It’s not like Keith is dying or anything right; it can’t be too bad.”

The atmosphere suddenly got so tense that he was sure that the air would pop if he were to touch it with a needle. In mere moments it felt as if a hard stone had dropped down into Lance’s stomach and physically weighed him down.

“Hunk,” Lance whispered, “Keith’s not, he’s not is he?”

“It’s…” Hunk scratched his cheek nervously, “God Lance, please don’t make me say it.”

He glanced at Shay for help, but she seemed just as distraught as Hunk. 

“Please,” Lance whispered fearfully, “What’s wrong with Keith?”

From behind Hunk, Shay’s shoulders sagged as if a great weight had been placed upon her and Lance was pretty sure that he could see tears forming in her dark hazel eyes. Whatever was happening to his childhood best friend had to bad; she was usually the model definition of composure.

Ready to be the rock that anyone could rely on.

“His cancer, Lance, it came back.”

The brunet didn’t think that his world could fall apart anymore than it already had, until that moment.


	3. The Hero and the Keeper of Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith really needs to learn how take better care of himself, luckily Lance has returned to help clean up his mess...sort of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter minna~
> 
> There are a few medical liberties in here, and a few that will be taken as the story progresses as I am no doctor (just a humble English teacher LOL), so if something is not quite right medically, do not hold it against me XD
> 
> Regardless, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Keith huffed under his breath as he shifted the now sleeping Jou in his arms. 

He shoved his free hand into his back pocket and pulled his keys out and shoved them into the lock. He was barely able to move his arm out of the way before Seth pushed the door open and started running towards the stairs at full speed. The raven closed his eyes and inhaled deeply as he walked through the door and closed it quietly. 

He toed off his shoes and made his way up the staircase, making his way to Jou’s bedroom. Luckily he was smart enough to leave the door open this time and all he had to do was nudge it with his hip. He walked silently across the room and carefully lowered his four year old nephew down onto the bed. 

He smiled softly as Jou grinned in his sleep and immediately sought out his sock monkey. Keith quickly removed the boy’s sneakers and pulled the comforter over his small frame. Jou burrowed deep into the blanket’s warmth as one of his thumbs managed to slip between his parted lips. 

Keith chuckled under his breath and ran his fingers through the boy’s sable raven hair before leaning down and pressing his lips to the pale forehead. He turned around, skillfully avoiding the random toys scattered on the floor, and walked out of the room; sneaking one last glance at the youngest in the household before shutting the door without a sound. 

Just as he was about to make his way to his oldest nephew’s room, his wrist watch started beeping. He glared down at the device as if it started the apocalypse and turned it off; he could deal with that after he dealt with Seth. 

It wouldn’t be the first time he was late taking his medication, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be the last.

He shoved it to the back of his mind and made his way to the young silver haired boy’s room; to say he was surprised to see the door closed tightly would be a lie…it was like Seth was hitting puberty two years too early. Keith banged on the door before grabbing the handle and opening it. Seth was sitting on his bed with his back against the headboard and his legs brought up to his chest. 

Keith sighed and ran his hand through his hair,

“Are you going to tell me what happened at the park?”

The silverette resolutely kept his blue eyes firmly on the bed and let his fingers trace the superhero insignias on his comforter. Keith folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the door frame as he waited for Seth to open up to him. It was times like this that he wished that he wished that the boy didn’t somehow inherit his  _ lovely _ personality; then at least the stubborn silverette wouldn’t fight him so much.

“Answer me Seth,” He urged impatiently, “You had no reason to talk to Lance like that; you don’t even know him.”

At the sound of the brunet’s name, Seth seemed to stiffen and his hands clenched at his sheets. Keith thought that he could hear his nephew mumbling something underneath his breath, but of course he couldn’t hear what he was saying. The raven slowly pushed himself from his position by the door and fought back a wince when he felt the sharp pain shooting down his spine; no use in worrying the poor boy even further. 

He wandered over to Seth’s bed and carefully sat on it; he didn’t want the boy to go on the defensive after all. 

“I didn’t understand any of what you just said; let’s try that again.”

Seth slowly raised his head so that they were looking each other in the eye,

“But it’s the truth; it’s his fault that you’re hurting so much.” 

Keith stared his stoic face and couldn’t help but feel sad; Seth was really just like him. He shifted on the bed and grabbed him from under the armpits as he pulled him onto his lap. Seth fidgeted slightly from the movement, but soon calmed down and let his uncle hold him tightly. Keith ruffled the silverette’s hair affectionately before speaking once more.

“Where did you hear that from?”

The boy picked at his hands in agitation; still refusing to meet his eyes,

“Well mum said that you guys used to be friends, but then he made you sad when he left; that he made  _ all _ of you sad…”

Keith raised an eyebrow at him in confusion; that made sense in a way, but how the hell did Lance even come up in discussion? Unless...

“Seth, were you listening in on one of your mum and dad’s private conversations?”

The boy blinked at him owlishly for a moment before slowly nodding his head once more; his cheeks taking on a reddish tint. Keith’s eyes narrowed as his suspicions were confirmed, but simply huffed a relaxing breath through his nose; Shiro and Allura really needed to be more careful with what they said. The raven patted his oldest nephew’s head softly before placing a soft kiss in his silver hair. The boy tilted his head to the side in confusion causing Keith to chuckle. 

“Don’t believe everything you hear,” He whispered, “Sometimes adults say things they do not mean when they are upset and you really shouldn’t hate people because of that.”

The silverette stared up at him before a tentative smile started to spread across his face,

“Okay Uncle, I think I understand.”

Keith nodded his head causing the boy to relax against him contentedly, however, the moment was ruined by a loud banging on the door. 

The raven glanced down at his watch and noticed that it was about the time that Hunk and Shay would come over for a visit; never ones to leave Keith alone. Plus, Hunk was going to pop the question sometime this week, so hopefully this would be a celebratory occasion; exactly what he needed to get his mind off the meeting with Lance. 

He shook his head to get that dangerous thought out of his head and pushed himself to his feet. He made his way towards the bedroom door and almost made it to the hallway when everything seemed to tilt dangerously to the side. He put his hand on a nearby wall in order to gain his bearings once more, but it only seemed to make it worse; a lightheaded weakness seeping into his joints.

“Uh Uncle Keith,” Seith squeaked nervously from somewhere behind him, “A-Are you okay?”

Keith went to nod his head, but that only caused his legs to give out from under him and fall to the floor in a heap. He was aware of Seth buzzing around him and demanding if everything was alright, but everything just sounded like it was coming out of a static-y radio. He lethargically turned his head towards his nephew’s concerned blue eyes and tried to gather every bit of consciousness he had. 

“Seth,” He attempt soothe him, “Go check the window and if you see Uncle Hunk or Aunty Shay or someone else you recognise, I want you to open the door and bring them to me; do you understand?”

The blunette seemed to hesitate, his body seemingly frozen in his bedroom doorway. 

“Don’t worry about me,” Keith tried again, “I’ll be alright, just go down to the door.”

After a moment, he finally nodded his head in determination and ran down the hall towards the staircase and disappeared around the corner. Keith grimaced to himself as nausea started to consume him and the hallway lights started to get just a little too bright.

He should’ve known better than to ignore it; especially since he  _ has _ been ignoring it for the past couple of days.

Now Hunk might very well slaughter him. 

Great.

VLDVLDVLDVLDVLD

“Lance, slow down!”

The brunet, against his better nature, ignored his well-intended best friend and continued his way down the street. 

How had he not seen it before?!

There was absolutely no way in hell that Keith wouldn’t have been able to recognize him at the park. Sure it’s been ten years since they last saw each other, but they have been friends for too long for Keith to completely forget him; plus he is Lance McClain, he was damn near unforgettable. 

No, the problem was that Keith couldn’t actually  _ see _ him enough to know who it was; that should have been the first sign that Keith’s brain tumour had returned. How the hell didn’t he notice it in the first place; he’s supposed to be a  _ doctor _ ! So much for his so-called university education.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a hand literally grasping his arm and holding him in place. 

“Lance, you need to cool your head,” Hunk stated authoritatively, “Or else we’re not taking you to Keith’s house; seriously man, it’s not like you to become unhinged like this...that’s usually  _ Keith’s job _ .”

He clenched his fists at his sides and yanked his arm out of his friend’s grip; his breath coming out in stuttering gasps as his heart thundered in his chest,

“For how long?”

Shay watched him curiously from behind Hunk,

“How long what?”

Lance, for the first time in years, felt the extreme need to punch the shit out of something. 

He didn’t even feel this way when he caught Nyma and Rolo on the couch; he was always a lover more than a fighter. It was  _ always  _ Keith who was able to pull these emotions out of him; and it never ceased to annoy him. 

In high school, they would rile each other up to see who would lose their temper first and attack; their friendship centered around them fighting after all. However, when it came to Keith’s health and his battle against the enemy that was inside him, it was different…

“How long has it been since his cancer returned?” 

The raven haired giant sighed sadly and placed his hand comfortingly on Lance’s shoulder; always trying to comfort through touch. He slowly unclenched his fists and stared at Hunk and Shay waiting for one of them to answer. Silence engulfed them for a few moments before someone finally broke it; although it seemed that Shay was unwilling to talk about it.

“He told  _ us _ about it two years after Seth was born,” Shay hesitated, “But, by the way he explained it, the first symptoms started showing in our final year of high school…”

“What?” Lance froze; his blue eyes widening imperceptibly, “Why, what, I don’t...”

Hunk flinched slightly at the questions and confusion, but kept his gaze solely on him,

“He told us it was because he didn’t want to hold you back.”

His eyebrows furrowed,

“What…”

The taller male pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled sharply,

“Keith knew that you would’ve stayed in Arus and sabotaged your future if you knew about it; he was trying to protect you Lance.”

Lance felt as if something was pressing heavily on his chest. 

He stared at his two friends waiting for one of them to tell him that they were kidding; but he knew that neither of them would. He thought back to the fight to end all fights; the fight that resulted in Keith disappearing all summer and not even showing up to send him off to Olkarion for schooling. 

Lance clasped the front of his jacket tightly; as if he were trying to actually clutch his heart.

“Are you telling me that  _ everything _ Keith pulled in our senior year,” He mumbled, “Everything he said, all the barriers he put up, what he did to  _ us _ …that was all because he didn’t want me to stay by his side!”

Hunk nodded his head; his lips in a tight line,

“Yes.”

Lance growled under his breath and turned on his heel once more and started on his one man stampede towards Keith’s house. He was aware of Hunk and Shay trying to keep up with him, but at this point he knew that no one would be able to stop him. 

At this point, he was thankful that Keith chose to stay in the house that his last foster family, the Shiroganes, raised him in; it made finding him so much easier. 

He ran up the familiar driveway of his childhood and pounded on the front door with a barely constrained rage. He was faintly aware of his other friends keeping an eye on him, but right now he just wanted to punch Keith in the face. 

He waited impatiently for a few moments before raising his hand to knock again when the door flew open. He blinked a few times expecting to see a raven haired male, who was tall enough to stand just underneath the tip of his nose and had a messy mullet for hair, but instead he was forced to look down into the eyes of young Seth Shirogane. 

Before he could even say a word, the young silverette had grabbed onto his wrist and started dragging him towards the staircase.

“Seth?” He said in exasperation, “What are you doing?”

He didn’t think he was going to answer when an almost inaudible word escaped his throat,

“U-Uncle…”

Lance’s heart nearly stopped in his chest, but he pushed it to the back of his mind and let the boy half drag him up the stairs. 

When he got to the landing, his eyes immediately landed on Keith who was slumped against the wall; the pale colour of his eyelids nearly concealing the deep indigo of his eyes. He gently tore his hand out of Seth’s grip and ran towards the raven; practically sliding across the off-white carpet on his knees. 

He sat in front of the raven and tapped the man’s pale cheek lightly,

“Hey Mullet, are you with me?”

It took a few moments, but Keith slowly nodded his head,

“Yeah…’m here…”

Lance exhaled and a faint smile spread across his lips,

“Either you were an idiot and forgot to eat or you were an even bigger idiot and ignored your medication; which is it?”

The raven seemed to shift his gaze away from him; Lance sighed and cursed under his breath. 

He really, really hated when Keith was stubborn; it just made everything ten times harder. The brunet turned towards the young silver haired boy who still stood by his side; his face pale and his eyes red from tears. 

Lance smiled softly at the boy,

“Seth I know we got off to a rough start, but I need to know; did Uncle Keith eat anything today?”

The silverette blinked owlishly at Lance before he slowly shook his head,

“H-He had breakfast and we were going to have lunch after we got back home, but Uncle usually makes lunch after he takes his medicine…”

“Did you see him take his medicine?” Lance cut him off.

Seth shook his head frantically; causing him to frown, 

“Okay, go to Uncle Hunk and Aunty Shay downstairs and tell them that Uncle needs a snack; also ask them to grab his carrier case, okay?”

Seth nodded his head quickly and ran down the stairs as fast as he could. 

Lance sighed and pressed the back of his hand to Keith’s forehead; his frowned deepened when he felt a little bit of a fever. He was so deep in thought that he jumped slightly when he felt the raven’s strange, yet familiar, cool hand grab onto his wrist. 

“I’m fine Sharpshooter, just calm down a bit alright…”

The brunet’s eyes narrowed dangerously,

“Don’t even start that with me Keith Akira Kogane; you know better than to ignore this type of stuff.”

Keith had the decency to look ashamed as he leaned his head against the wall. However, the look was quickly replaced by the smirk that the raven used to practically carry in his back pocket through high school. 

“It’s like nothing changed…” He laughed tiredly, “You’ve always been on me about this…”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Lance hummed with false enthusiasm, “Imagine what it would be like if I actually knew about the cancer back then.”

The raven blinked at him for a moment and shook his head back and forth; almost in an attempt to see if he was hallucinating. Suddenly the raven’s shoulders dropped and an exhausted sigh escaped his lips,

“Well quiznak.”


	4. The Knight Realises Things Haven't Changed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith tries to come to terms with the fact that Lance is an idiot, that he is still a mother hen even after all these years and that he still probably loves him regardless. Great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's some more Keith POV minna~  
> I hope you enjoy the chapter even if it is a little short and may jump all over the place a little bit.   
> Another new arrival to the group (of course), but meh we need more people involved with the drama!   
> Thank you for all the love and support!

Only Lance had the ability to make him feel uncomfortable in his own house. 

Not only had he not been expecting the brunet to run into Hunk and Shay, but he also didn’t expect his so called friends to tell him about his cancer. 

There was a reason why he didn’t want to tell the brown haired idiot about it in high school. Lance would’ve stayed in Arus and hovered over his shoulder worrying and stressing about something that he had no control over. Keith just couldn’t let that happen.

Keith took a bite of the strawberry jam coated toast he had on the plate in front of him as he glanced up at his friends from under his dark bangs.  

Lance was refusing to look him in the eye; his arms crossed over his chest angrily and the signature scowl, reserved for disappointment in Keith’s impulsive decisions, present on his tanned face. Hunk and Shay were standing next to each other in awkward silence; most likely unsure of how they should react. 

Though, Keith was certain that he could sense anger and disappointment radiating off the larger male as well. He was kind of thankful that Seth had retreated upstairs soon after he got to the kitchen; he had a feeling that his oldest nephew had the ability sense the incoming danger. 

“So,” Keith cleared his throat and placed his remaining toast on the plate, “Who’s going to go first?”

The raven winced slightly as a scoff resounded from within Lance’s throat. The brunet’s ocean blue eyes narrowed at him dangerously. 

“Stop being so calm about this, you’re lucky that we came when we did and you know it.”

Keith rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his own chest,

“I was fine; I know what I can and can’t handle.”

Lance barked out a sarcastic laugh before shifting his gaze away from his,

“You sure looked like you had a handle on it.”

The raven glared at his old friend before leaning across the table to grab his carrier case once more. Although he had already taken his steroid medication, he needed to check his blood sugar levels as they weren’t always the greatest. Lance always used to joke that his sugars were always so wonky because he was too salty for this world. 

He opened his case and pulled out one of his test strips and his lancing device. He tried to ignore the fact that Lance was watching him like a hawk and pricked his index finger with the device before putting his blood in the test strip. He silently grabbed his meter and inserted the test strip diligently and waited for the results to come up. 

Keith sighed under his breath,

“How long are you going to watch me?”

“Well someone has to make sure that you know how to take care of yourself.” Lance muttered heatedly. 

“ _ Lance _ ,” He clenched his fists, “We are  _ not _ going to do this now; not when the boys are upstairs.”

The brunet looked as if he was about to argue when his meter beeped loudly letting Keith know that his blood sugar was calculated. He lifted the small meter and frowned when he saw how low his sugar was. He really hated taking the glucose tablets, but at this point it seemed as if he had no choice. 

God, this really was getting way more complicated than it should be; he should’ve known that his decision in high school was going to bite him in the ass. 

“Hunk,” He ran his fingers through his hair, “Do you think that you and Shay could take Seth and Jou out of the house for a bit?”

The dark haired male’s eyes softened and he glanced between both Keith and Lance before nodding his head agreeably. In the next moment, Hunk and Shay had both started towards the staircase and went upstairs; their footsteps being heard above their head as they collected the boys. Lance was still watching him out of the corner of his eye and judging by the stiffness in his upper body the brunet was barely containing his anger. 

“Keith?”

The raven pulled his gaze from the fuming brunet and turned towards Shay who had returned from upstairs and was watching him with a contemplative look. Keith could tell that Shay wasn’t too happy with the stunt that he pulled either, but at least the kindhearted woman had more tact than the majority of all his friends. Shay folded her arms across her chest thoughtfully,

“You know that Hunk will talk to you about this, correct?”

“Yeah,” Keith’s shoulder’s sagged, “I kind of figured.”

Shay smiled softly before facing Hunk as he walked back into the kitchen with Jou in his arms and Seth trailing beside him. Keith couldn’t help but notice how pale Seth still looked; he wasn’t too surprised though…Seth hadn’t seen him that sick before. The raven reached down and lifted his eldest nephew into his arms; the young silver haired boy immediately wrapping his arms around his uncle’s neck. Keith rubbed his back soothingly as the boy buried his nose into his neck; he really hated when this happened.

“It’s okay Seth,” He whispered, “I’m going to be alright.”

“Promise?”

“I promise,” Keith kissed his forehead soothingly, “Lance will take care of me; just go have fun with Jou, Aunty and Uncle, yeah?”

The silverette nodded his head and sniffled as Keith lowered him back to the floor. He glanced over at Jou who was still half asleep in Hunk’s arms. The small raven smiled dopily at his uncle and waved goodbye sluggishly as the dark haired Samoan turned on his heel and headed towards the front door with Shay and Seth following behind him. 

He listened as the four of them got their shoes on and closed the front door. Keith slowly started to put his meter and test strips back into his carrier as he grabbed his glucose tablets. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Keith paused in his movements and kept his gaze firmly on the table,

“I didn’t feel like I had to; it wasn’t your problem anymore.”

He jumped when Lance’s fist slammed down onto the table; a reaction that wasn’t common for the tall brunet, no matter how angry he got,

“Don’t even start that bullshit with me Keith; Hunk told me that the cancer started showing symptoms in our senior year of high school.”

The raven flinched at the accusatory tone, but anger welled up inside of him. 

He didn’t really have much of a choice at that time either; Lance wouldn’t have understood back then. Keith didn’t answer the brunet right away and quickly popped one of his tablets in his mouth. He reached for his nearly empty glass of water and chased it down quickly before addressing the angry man once more. 

“Even then, I didn’t feel like I had to.” He spat, “We weren’t exactly as close as we used to be then either.”

“And whose fault is that? I wasn’t the one who pushed you away Keith; you did that all on your own.”

Keith’s head snapped up so fast that he almost got whiplash,

“What the hell did you just say?”

Lance smirked haughtily and leaned over the table so that their faces were virtually nose to nose,

“You heard me mullet; I’m pretty sure I don’t need to repeat it.”

The raven growled under his breath and snagged the collar of Lance’s shirt; pulling him so close that their foreheads touched and they were sharing the same breath. The closeness stirred something in the pit of his stomach, but he pushed it to the back of his mind; Lance was with someone the last he heard, and according to Hunk, he loved her, there would never be a chance for them.

There was never a chance for them.

“ _ I _ didn’t do  _ anything _ ,” He hissed, “If your brain wasn’t so small, you’d realize that everything that happened to us back then was because of  _ you _ !”

Lance opened his mouth, no doubt an argument on the tip of his tongue, when nothing seemed to come out. His eyes widened drastically, which only seemed to make Keith’s anger intensify. He shoved Lance away from him and packed away his tablets while he slowly stood up. He picked up his carrier and walked over to the microwave; he could feel Lance’s confused gaze following him, but he tried to ignore it. 

“How the fuck was it my fault?” Lance demanded, “You’re the one that practically cut me out of your life!”

Keith was in the process of lifting his glass only to have it slip out of his hands and shatter on the tile floor. He whipped around to face the brunet, his face turning red with anger as he all but ran to Lance and punched him across the face. The slightly taller male recoiled and touched his now tender cheek as the raven glared darkly at his friend. 

“You never get it,” He spat harshly, “You’re always so damn oblivious about everyone else; I almost feel sorry for you.”

“What are you talking about?” Lance threw hands up in exasperation; his sore cheek all but forgotten, “You’re making absolutely no sense!”

The raven growled under his breath and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. 

Back in high school, Shiro and the others used to tease  _ him _ for being romantically oblivious, but seriously Lance was a whole new level. Keith backed away from the brunet and walked over to the corner of the kitchen to grab the broom. He was about to pull the broom out of its hiding spot when a tanned hand wrapped around his wrist.

“Let me go.” He said through gritted teeth. 

“No.” His grip tightened, “Tell me why you think I pushed you away.” 

Keith yanked his arm out of Lance’s grip and found himself cornered next to the fridge. His heart was beating heavily in his chest as the brunet’s concerned and confused blue eyes. He didn’t want to look into his eyes; he knew that he would just be lost.

Just like in high school when Lance pretty much had his heart in his hands and tore it right out of his chest. He would  _ drown _ and he couldn’t let that happen; especially not now, when his future was even more uncertain than it was before. Of course he could never truly blame Lance for what happened considering the fact that he had no clue about his feelings.

“Lance, is that  _ you _ ?”

Keith’s head snapped up just in time to see a pale-ish hand grab a hold of Lance’s shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw none other than Matt Holt staring at the brunet with his arms hanging limply at his sides. First of all, he hadn’t even heard his front door open, second of all he definitely didn’t expect Matt of all people to show up. Keith scowled to himself, he wouldn’t be surprised if Shiro had somehow put him to it.

The brunet stared evenly at the brown haired male in front of him, but Keith could recognise the confusion on Lance’s face.

“Matt,” Lance smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck, “How are you doing man?” 

Matt’s hazel eyes narrowed as if he were studying a complex math problem,

“Good, I guess? But I didn’t know that you were back in Arus?”

The raven huffed and pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead. 

“It’s only for a little bit,” Lance shrugged his shoulders, “Wanted to visit my parents and maybe take a small break before heading back to the real world, you know?”

“I completely get the feeling,” Matt smiled good naturedly, “Do you want to get coffee or something--” 

“Matt,” Keith finally huffed; cutting him off, “is there a reason why you’re in my house?”

“Oh right,” Matt laughed loudly as he rubbed the back of his head, “Shiro asked me to check in on you because you missed your daily chat time or whatever. Now I see  _ why _ you were so late.”

Keith clenched his fists to his sides and glanced away in an effort to hide the blush that was crawling up his face,

“Matt, as you can see I am  _ fine _ ; now can you leave.” 

“Of course, of course.” Matt smiled brightly, “You’re obviously in good hands; Lance, maybe we can get a coffee sometime or something so we can catch up.”

“Sure thing,” Lance smiled himself, “That would be…”

“Great, now both of you can leave.” Keith huffed angrily and headed towards his staircase, “I’m going to go lay down.”

“Keith…” Lance glared at the raven reproachfully.

“JUST GET THE HELL OUT!” The shorter male shouted, “I’m perfectly capable of handling myself.”

Without a backward glance, he bounded up the stairs and practically ran into his bedroom and slammed the door shut. 

He cursed under his breath and leaned his head against the wood of his door; anxiousness and anger clouding his mind. He listened for any noises downstairs and he couldn’t help but relax when he finally heard the front door slam shut. He slid down onto his knees and pressed his hand to his chest as old memories continued to cloud his head.

Even after ten years…

Shiro was definitely not going to let him hear the end of this when he found out.


	5. The Hero, The Knight, and Their Supportive Advisors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt and Lance have a heart-to-heart, as do Keith and Hunk, and Lance begins to pursue the answers he's not sure he wants or needs...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya Minna~
> 
> I know it's been a while, but life has been busy!   
> Here's a new update and I hope you enjoy it! More drama is starting to unfold and some secrets and hints have been interwoven! ;)  
> As always, I apologise for any OOC-ness that appears throughout the chapter! <3

Lance’s heart pounded in his chest as the front door of Keith’s house shut behind him. He stared at the wooden door blankly; half of him still mad at the raven and the other half begging for him to go back inside and get some answers. He probably would’ve done the latter too if it weren’t for the lingering presence that seemed to radiate behind him. The brunet felt his fists clenching at his sides once more, but he forced his fingers to uncurl themselves from his palm. 

He shoved his hands in his pockets and was about to make his way to his parents’ home when a hand wrapped securely around his arm and immediately stopped him from going anywhere. Lance huffed under his breath as he gently pulled his arm out of Matt’s grip; he turned towards the auburn haired male with a slight frown maring his features. Matt’s eyes were soft as he stared at him sympathetically. Lance crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the elder with a raised eyebrow. 

“What do you need Matt?”

Matt sighed and refused to move his gaze away from his,

“You never answered my question, what brought you back to Arus?” 

Lance raised an eyebrow at the older male’s insistence, but merely shrugged his shoulders and went to turn away from him once more. He was about to take a step forward when he felt Matt grab the back of his jacket. 

“I told you, I just needed to come home for a bit.”

“Lance,” Matt whispered insistently, “It’s been years since we’ve so much as heard from you and now you’re suddenly back -- of course we would worry about you.” 

Lance grabbed onto the hand that was holding his jacket and tightened his grip on Matt’s wrist making him let go. Matt dropped his hand away and continued to stare unflinchingly at the younger male. 

“You have to understand Lance,” Matt sighed, “When you stopped contacting us, it, it ended up leaving a few  _ scars _ on some people, you know?”

The brunet flinched at the comment and shifted his gaze,

“It’s not like I did it on purpose...”

Matt stared at him for a moment; his eyes trying to search out his own. Before Lance could react the auburn haired male had pulled him into a tight hug and rubbed soothing circles into his back. Black dots danced across his eyes briefly as he closed his eyes and when he opened them again, Matt was looking at him as if Lance were a younger brother. 

“Now you listen here,” Matt whispered, “You could possibly be the most oblivious, not to mention stupid, person I have ever met in my life.”

“Wow, Matt,” Lance forced an awkward and self-deprecating chuckle, “You really know how to make a man feel loved.”

“Oh hush and let me finish.” Matt rolled his eyes and ruffled his hair affectionately, “I’ve known you since we were in primary school and I, no we, all know that you wouldn’t have intentionally tried to shut us out -- there had to be a reason; but, it still  _ hurt  _ a lot of people Lance, some more than others.” 

Lance shrank away from Matt’s touch and rubbed the back of his neck,

“I don’t know if I even have the chance to make everything right; I’ve missed so much.” 

“You did,” Matt nodded his head resolutely, “But you have time...”

The brunet growled frustratedly and pushed around Matt so that their shoulders accidentally hit as he passed by,

“I wouldn’t have left if I had known,” Lance looked down at his feet, “Do you honestly think I’m so cowardly as to run away from something like that?”

“Of course not…”

“We’ve been friends for so long, how do you think I feel knowing now that he’s been suffering all this time?”

Silence engulfed them as Lance’s words seemed to echo around them; that is, it was silent until Matt’s light laugh swallowed the silence. Lance’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the sound and found himself facing Matt once more. As his laughter died, Matt lowered his head and opened his teary eyes as he stared at the confused brunet. 

“You can’t blame yourself for everything Lance, Keith didn’t want you to know that it came back; he didn’t want to  _ force _ you to stay here.”

“Then what the hell have we been talking about for the past couple minutes?” 

Matt rolled his eyes affectionately and moved towards Lance. He patted his shoulders a few times before he continued a straight path down the street; his hand fishing in his back pocket for what looked like his mobile. Lance watched the older man leave when Matt suddenly stopped walking.

“I wanted you to realise that you have the chance  _ fix it _ .” 

He was about to demand that Matt explain what the hell he meant only to realize that the auburn haired male had moved farther away. Lance turned on his own heel and started on his journey once more when Matt’s voice reached his ears once more.

“Contact Pidge!” He called out, “She’ll be able to tell you everything that you need to know!”

Lance paused in his steps and his brow furrowed as two distinct thought crossed his mind…

  1. What did Pidge Holt have to do with any of this?
  2. Pidge was definitely going to kill him for dropping off the face of the Earth for the past couple of years.



Joy. 

VLDVLDVLDVLDVLD

“Uncle Keith?”

Keith jumped up and banged his head off the wall causing him to curse loudly under his breath. His body protested slightly as he slowly sat up from his position on the floor; it had been a long time since he fell asleep like that. He carefully lifted himself from the floor and fought back a wince as the muscles in his back spasmed; he was seriously getting too old for stuff like this. 

Keith ran his fingers through his messy hair and opened his door to see Jou staring up at him with wide eyes. 

“Hey boyo,” He smiled as he leaned down and pulled the small boy into his arms, “Did you have fun with Aunty and Uncle?”

The small nodded his head frantically and smiled,

“Yeah! Aunty Shay and Uncle Hunk took us to the beach and we had ice cream! It was so much fun; you should come too next time, maybe Mum and Papa and Pidgey and Matty and Uncle Coran can come!”

Keith laughed at his youngest nephew, though he could feel his smile becoming strained. The raven kissed Jou’s forehead before placing him on the floor and running a pale hand through his sable hair. 

“So,” He tried to change the subject, “where’s your brother?”

“In the yard with Aunty Shay,” Jou beamed up at him, “Uncle Hunk asked me to come and get you ‘cause he wanted to talk to you.”

Keith exhaled through his nose and pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead; he really didn’t have the energy to deal with this right now. 

But, he knew that if he didn’t come down, Hunk would hunt him down and interrogate him later. He nodded his head and let Jou grab his hand and pull him down the hall, down the stairs and into the dining room. He felt his blood freeze as he saw Hunk sitting at the head of the wooden table. His hands were clasped in front of his nose with his elbows resting on the table; his hazel eyes narrowed in thought. 

“Jou,” Keith rubbed his head gingerly, “Why don’t you run outside and play with Seth and Aunty Shay? Uncle Hunk and I will be out with you soon, yeah?”

“’Kay!” Jou released a bubbly laugh, “But hurry up!”

Keith smiled and nodded his head prompting the boy to slip on his sneakers and run through the patio door and into the backyard. He watched Jou sprint towards Seth and Shay; he laughed when he saw Jou jumping onto Shay’s back. Someone clearing their throat brought his attention back to his current predicament. 

“Keith,” Hunk began, “I probably don’t have to tell you how much of an idiot you were today, right?”

He gulped as she glared at him; he really hated when he got all serious like this,

“No, I got chewed out enough earlier if you ask me.”

Hunk nodded his head in contemplation before tilting his head to the side. He didn’t even need to say anything; Keith knew what he was going to ask him. Especially since Lance was here before he left and now he was gone. 

Of course it would be normal if Lance didn’t stick around after a few hours, but Hunk knew as well as he did that it would be next to impossible to get rid of the brunet after Keith pulled something that stupid.

“What happened?” He asked tentatively. 

“Nothing Hunk,” Keith looked away from him, “Nothing big happened, Matt just stopped by and then they both left.”

Hunk stared at him deadpan, as if he did not believe a word he just said:

“Did you tell him?”

His head snapped up to stare at the taller man only to see that he had a knowing smile on his face. Keith clenched his fists at his sides and felt the familiar frustration welling up in him once more. Hunk’s smile slowly turned into a frown and he got to his feet; he walked over to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Why didn’t you tell him Keith,” He whispered, “He deserves to know and you deserve to tell him.”

Keith flinched and rubbed his thumb over his forefinger rhythmically,

“You know perfectly well why I can’t do that.”

“Keith, buddy, you deserve to be happy.” Hunk squeezed his shoulder, “Especially  _ because _ you don’t know what the future holds for you.”

The raven laughed hollowly and moved out of Hunk’s reach. He looked at him before turning his gaze to the outdoors again to watch his nephews playing in the green grass. He couldn’t help but wonder when the day would come where he would no longer be able to see any of this. The day when his tumour would finally win. 

Ryner told him at his last appointment it was a huge possibility that it would happen sooner rather than later, and even now, his vision would go fuzzy on him sometimes. 

Along with his memory...

And then there was also the brain swelling and the threat of seizures...

Not to mention the chemotherapy and the radiation...

“Lance doesn’t deserve to be pulled into my life,” He smiled sadly, “I may love him Hunk, but not enough to trap him in  _ this _ .”

“But you won’t be trapping him Keith!” Uncharacteristically shouted, “He would want to be here!”

At that moment, something inside Keith seemed to snap as well causing him to slam a fist down onto the table,

“That’s why I never wanted him to come back here!”

Silence reigned with only his harsh breaths filling the room.

“God Hunk,” Keith’s voice broke, “now that he knows, he’s never going to let it go. I’m going to ruin his life if he sticks around… I always  _ have _ .”

Hunk huffed in frustration and placed his hands on either side of Keith’s shoulders so that he had no choice but to look him in the eyes,

“Listen to me Keith Kogane, you have done  _ nothing _ to ruin any of our lives; you have done so much for us. What would Shiro say to your right now if he heard you talking like this?”

Keith found himself flinching away at the mention of his brother, but Hunk held him steady and pushed on,

“This is about you and Lance…it never had anything to do with anything else, and it never will! So stop being so stubborn and let yourself love him!”

“Uncle Keith?”

Keith jumped slightly and his attention turned towards the patio door. Seth was staring up at him in confusion; his face covered in a few layers of dirt. The older raven moved around the huffing raven and walked over to the door to kneel down in front of his oldest nephew. He was about to ask what was wrong when a dirty hand reached up and touched the side of his face.

“Uncle Keith, why are you crying?” 

The raven’s eyes widened before he smiled at his son reassuringly and ruffled the young silverette’s hair. It had been a long time since his emotions had lost control like that; he was willing to guess the last time it happened was when those decorated soldiers approached Shiro and Allura’s front doorstep.

“It’s nothing Seth,” He whispered, “Uncle Hunk just brought up something, don’t worry about it alright?”

“Okay…” Seth muttered sadly. 

“Now,” Keith sniffled and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, “Why don’t you go call your younger brother inside? We have to get you all cleaned up before Mum comes yeah?”

“Okay.” He repeated before running outside once more to grab his brother.

Keith hurriedly swiped at any lingering tears before facing Hunk once more. The taller raven was watching him with a morose expression. He tried to smile at her reassuringly, but he knew that he had failed. He walked over to him and wrapped his arms around the big guy in a rare hug; he knew that the friendly giant meant well.

“I’ll be alright Hunk,” He whispered, “Even if Lance isn’t in my life.”

“But Keith…”

The sound of the patio door opening once more cut him off giving Keith the signal to escape. He swooped down and picked up the giggling Jou in his arms. He took one look at his muddy being and laughed loudly. He had to wonder if any of them were this bad when they were children. Seth ran passed him and towards the staircase after kicking off his shoes outside. Keith turned towards Hunk and Shay (who miraculously seemed clean) and smiled at them softly.

“Well, I better get these guys cleaned up for their Mum,” He shrugged, “Thanks for everything today guys; it really meant a lot.”

“It was no problem Keith,” Shay smiled reassuringly, “We’ll stop by later tomorrow for a check in alright?”

The raven nodded at his friends and waved at them as they, somewhat reluctantly, headed towards the front door. His smile dropped slightly as he made his way up the stairs and to the bathroom. He could already hear the tub filling with water; Seth must be eager to go home.

He sighed and walked into the steamy room.

He really couldn’t blame him.

VLDVLDVLDVLDVLD

Lance laid on his back and stared up at the patchwork sky. 

His hand clutched tightly to the mobile that he held and frowned thoughtfully; his mind swimming with questions and the need for answers consuming him. He couldn’t even bear to go home and face his family yet since he was so distracted.

He had a feeling that he was going to regret this, but he had to know. 

He flipped onto his stomach and stared at his contacts list on his iPhone; her name stared up to him and sung like a siren’s song…he knew that it would be a mistake to call her…

But he had to know the truth.


	6. The Hero, The Mage, The Knight and The Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finds the courage to call, Pidge reveals more pieces to the puzzle and Keith's well-deserved break is about to begin...or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya Minna~  
> TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW!! WOOHOO!!  
> I couldn't resist posting a new chapter, so here it is! Sorry for any OOC-ness and all that jazz and I hope that you enjoy the chapter!!

Lance’s heart started to pound in his chest as the monotonous ringing echoed against his ear drums. His hand was quivering as anxiousness and nervousness continued to course through his veins; the fingers of his free hand twitching against his leg. He couldn’t believe that he was actually going through with this.

He was basically making a death wish at this point.

_ “Yeah?” _

He nearly dropped his phone at Pidge’s bored and distracted voice. All of the memories that he had with her seemed to come to the forefront of his mind. The way she smiled and the way she laughed; the way that she used to plot against everyone, foe or friend. He could feel tears of laughter and reminiscence tickling the corner of his eyes and his voice seemed to be caught in his throat. 

_ “Hello?”  _ She repeated; a note of annoyance grating her voice  _ “Matt if that’s you trying to creep me out, you’re doing a fucking shitty job at it.” _

Lance snickered at her colourful language; she truly hadn’t changed that much in the past ten years.

He pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead and chuckled under his breath before pulling the phone away from his ear and hanging up. 

He couldn’t bring himself to do it.

He really was that pathetic wasn’t he…

Of course he wanted to know what Matt meant when he told him to ask Pidge about what she knew, but at the same time he couldn’t help but think that it might be better that he didn’t know.  There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that Pidge knew what was up with Keith; she knew everything and it was hard to hide anything from that gremlin.

That’s what made her the best ally and the worst enemy.

His chest tightened painfully as that thought crossed his mind. Just as he knew there was no doubt that she knew about Keith, there was also no doubt that she was probably pissed off with him. And if he was completely honest, he was too scared to find out just how mad she was.

Lance pushed himself up so that he was leaning back on the palm of his hands for support; his phone buried in the tall grass beside him. For as long as he knew him, Keith had never showed his true emotions. Keith always put up the front of a standoff-ish loner who didn’t give a rat’s ass about what other people thought of him or about the people around him in general. 

In fact, Lance himself didn’t realize it was a front until he learned the hidden truth about Keith Kogane. 

They were about ten or eleven at the time and the day would’ve been normal if it wasn’t for the fact that Keith hadn’t showed up to school for an entire week; Shiro hadn’t been around either. He remembered asking Matt and the others if something happened, but they seemed as confused and worried as he did. Because as much as Keith ranted about how pointless school was, he never missed a day. 

And there was the matter of Shiro who would  _ never _ miss a day, even through loss of limb or pain of death.

By the time the next Monday came around, though he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, he became worried about his raven haired friend and decided to head over to the Shirogane house. He had only been to the raven’s house a handful of times, the group of friends preferring to meet at the Holts’ house over any of the others, but he was sure that he would be able to make his way there no problem. 

He remembered walking down the paved driveway and lingering in front of the finely finished front door with his hand raised. He was about to knock on the door when it opened a crack and he immediately recognized the deep indigo eyes staring back at him. He opened his mouth to say something to the raven, only to have the door thrown open and for a pale body to attack his. 

He braced himself for a punch, or something of that nature, but that was far from what had happened.

He stared wide eyed at the raven who had his arms wrapped tightly around him; his entire form shaking with what seemed to be repressed sobs.

**“Keith,”** He whispered in confusion,  **“What happened? Why haven’t you been at school?”**

The pallor boy sniffled before slowly releasing the brunet and stepped back towards the entrance of his house. It wasn’t until Lance got a good look at him when he saw that the boy’s eyes were bloodshot and salty tracks seemed to be an added feature to his face. He was tugging the sleeves of his jacket and refusing to look Lance in the eye; absently biting at the corner of his lip.

**“Keith…”**

**“Mr and Mrs Shirogane,”** He choked on his words,  **“Shiro’s Mum and Dad, they’re dead.”**

Lance jumped as he was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of his mobile ringing; the obnoxious pop song making itself known. He robotically reached for the device and swiped his finger against the touch screen before bringing it to his ear. 

“Hello?”

The other line was silent for a moment before a voice he wasn’t expecting to hear came through the speaker,

_ “Lance McClain, did you just try to call me?” _

The brunet froze as Pidge’s more than annoyed voice echoed around him. He gulped audibly before taking a deep breath; he guessed that it was now or never. He didn’t even know how he was going to approach the conversation; it seemed that he had to talk to her the only way he knew how… by winging it. 

“Hey Pidgey,” He laughed tensely, “Yeah, I did, sorry if I bothered you…”

He heard the light brown haired girl let out an annoyed sigh from the other end of the phone. He flinched at the sound, but waited for her to answer. It seemed like years had passed before she finally spoke again,

_ “If you wanted to talk then why didn’t you answer me and just sit there breathing heavily like some creepy stalker – slash – serial killer?”  _ She stated exasperatedly,  _ “Honestly, you’re such an idiot.” _

Lance couldn’t help but laugh loudly at her response. 

It sounded like something she would say to him before; it was almost like he had never left, like he had never broken ties. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed loudly; he really didn’t want to do this. 

“Sorry about that,” He repeated, “I just wanted to ask you about something and decided that it wasn’t important…”

_ “You mean THE Lance McClain, wanted to contact me of all people?”  _ He could practically hear her rolling her eyes,  _ “You’re going to have to give me something better than that.” _

The brunet agreed with her; he knew that he wouldn’t be able to get anything past her.

_ “So, why did you call? You made it pretty clear when you cut us out of your lives that you were done with us.” _

Lance clenched the phone in his hand so tightly that he thought he was going to break it. 

Alright, so that stung.

He dug the tips of his fingers into his pant legs and exhaled through his mouth loudly,

“Look, I’m sorry Pidge I never meant…”

_ “No,”  _ She exhaled harshly  _ “I know you didn’t.” _

He played with some grass near his fingers,

“I want to make it up to you, I shouldn’t have done that to you guys; especially after everything that we’ve been through together.”

_ “No,”  _ She repeated; the clicking of her computer suddenly echoing in the background,  _ “Look, it was better that you left anyways; it was what was best for you and it was what Keith wanted.” _

Lance closed his eyes and sighed,

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

She went ominously silent; even her continuously clicking keyboard had lost its voice.. He felt his apprehension building inside him once more as the silence stretched even longer between them. The tension was palpable around him and he was more than sure that she could feel the tension just as much as he could. 

“Pidge, please.” He whispered. 

After a few moments, the younger brunette finally sighed,

_ “Lance, the first thing you have to understand is that we  _ **_wanted_ ** _ to tell you; but Keith wouldn’t let us.” _

Lance scowled to himself and clenched his fist,

“Why?”

He thought he heard her shift from the other side of the line before she continued:

_ “I was the first to find out about the tumour; it was completely on accident. He originally  never wanted anyone to know,”  _ She sighed,  _ “We never truly appreciated how much he did to keep us happy, you know?” _

“Yeah, yeah I know.”

_ “Anyways,”  _ She pushed on,  _ “When I found out, he made me swear not to tell anyone else and the way he asked me -- I just couldn’t say no.” _

Lance’s eyes softened as he heard the tinge of remorse in the younger woman’s voice,

“Keith has that effect on people.”

She chuckled self-deprecatingly,

_ “So what? Maybe things would have been different if you had known from the beginning.” _

“Pidge,” He sighed.

_ “No, don’t try to make me feel better; not when you know that I am right.” _ She whispered,  _ “Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that you had a chance to live Lance, but everything changed after Keith started to push you away…” _

Lance furrowed his eyebrows as he thought back to his final year at the Castle of Lions; to the very moment when Keith had started to grow distant with him... with all of them.

He has been told over and over again that the raven wanted him to be happy and that was why he had never told him about the cancer; Keith wanted to ‘protect his future’. Around the time that Keith started to pull away, things started to slowly implode. 

It didn’t help that Shiro, Allura and Matt weren’t around as much anymore.

“I want to fix it,” Lance finally whispered, “I want to help him Pidge.”

_ “We all do,”  _ She admitted with a scoff,  _ “But when has Keith Kogane ever willingly accepted our help?” _

“That’s when we give him no other choice!” Lance argued, “We can,”

_ “Lance,” _ Pidge interrupted him,  _ “You still don’t know all of it _ . _ ” _

His mouth opened and closed uselessly as he struggled for the right words to say only to have speech fail him. 

“What?” He whispered, “What else could possibly be added onto this?”

Pidge huffed from the other end,

_ “I, I can’t tell you that.” _

“And why not?” He demanded angrily.

_ “Because,”  _ She stated without hesitation,  _ “I can’t tell you this part, it’s not my place.” _

“C’mon Pidge,” Lance whined, “You cannot tell me something like that and then not tell me what you’re talking about.”

_ “I want to tell you,”  _ Pidge admitted,  _ “Really I do, but I can’t; Keith has to be the one to tell you this.” _

“But…”

_ “No Lance.”  _ She cut him off,  _ “Ask Keith, though honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out on your own -- after all, it’s the same reason why you can’t seem to hold down a girlfriend.” _

The brunet opened his mouth to retort out of habit, but found his words failing him once more; he felt himself choking on air. 

“What does that have to do with anything?”

_ “Oh nothing,” _ She teased,  _ “I’m sure you’ll find out soon.” _

“Pidge,”

_ “I’ll be back in town in a few days myself, hopefully you will have figured it out by then.” _

“Pidge!” He repeated impatiently only to hear the dial tone in his ear.

He pulled his phone away from his ear and scowled down at the screen; his unimpressed face staring right back up at him. The longer that he stared at his own reflection, he angrier that he seemed to get. 

Even after ten years, Keith still managed to wreak havoc over his emotions like this.

With a grunt he pushed himself to his feet and dusted the dirt off his jeans.

He had a hotheaded mullet to see.

VLDVLDVLDVLDVLD

Keith struggled with Jou as he tried to pull a clean shirt over the smaller boy’s head. The boy was giggling as the neck hole got stuck on the crown of his head before Keith was finally able to pull the shirt down. The raven poked his nephew’s stomach playfully causing Jou to laugh even harder. Keith watched as the boy struggled to put on his pants, but smiled with pride as he managed to put them on the right way and do them up. Keith ruffled the young boy’s raven hair and smiled at him brightly.

“Good job boyo; now go pack your monkey and some toys so you’re ready for Mum when comes to get you.” 

The boy nodded enthusiastically before running over to his bed and grabbed his little backpack; he teetered over to his toy box and dropped to his knees in front of it before starting to stuff it full of toys and books. Keith pushed himself to his feet and wandered out the door and towards his oldest nephew’s bedroom. 

He smiled softly when he saw the open door, but still knocked lightly to let the young boy know that he was there.

Seth looked up from his bag and tilted his head to the side as he stared at Keith. The raven entered the room and sat down on the boy’s bed. He was surprised when Seth suddenly got to his feet, jumped onto the bed and wrapped his small arms around his uncle’s neck. Keith blinked down at his nephew before placing his hand on his head and running his fingers through his hair soothingly. 

“What’s up Seth?” He inquired, “Is everything okay?”

The silverette was still for a moment before he nodded,

“Yeah…are you okay?”

Keith’s hand froze in its movement as the gravity of the question washed upon him. One thing he knew about his oldest was that he was fairly observant for his age. He knew that he had probably scared Seth more times today than he had in his entire life. Keith exhaled through his nose and started to run his hand through Seth’s hair once more.

“I’m fine,” He assured him, “I’m just having a bad day that’s all; sometimes adults have bad days.” 

“Oh,” Seth muttered as he tilted his head up to look at Keith, “So it’s okay if Jou and me go to Mama’s house?”

The raven chuckled,

“Of course it’s okay; you want to see your Mum don’t you?”

The boy smiled before nodding his head causing a small twinge to pass through his chest. It was always hard for him to let the boys go because he missed them so much, but at the same time, he knew that even with the hard times, Allura needed her boys like people needed oxygen to breathe.

“Good,” He smiled at his nephew, “If you’re done packing your books, go help your younger brother; someone has to make sure he doesn’t pack his entire toy box.”

Seth giggled before jumping off his uncle’s lap and ran towards Jou’s room. Keith pushed himself to his feet once more and started to head down the stairs. He knew that his watch was going to go off any moment now, and he had to take his medication for the swelling as well. 

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he entered the kitchen and reached for his carrier case and placed it in front of him. It was times like this when he thought it would be easier to just stop treatment; but he knew that he couldn’t do it. The boys still need him, Allura still needs him,  _ Shiro _ still needs him.

He quickly prepared the needle and with practiced ease injected it into the left side of his abdomen. He started to put his needle away when someone knocked on his door. He hastily unpackaged his meds and swallowed a pill dry before rushing towards the doorway.

“Boys!” He shouted, “Your Mum’s here!”

He opened the door and smiled at the woman standing in front of him. Her platinum blonde hair fell well passed her lower back and was held in place by a loose half part. By looking into her kaleidoscope eyes, he could see that she looked tired, but at the same time he could see that she was excited to see the boys.

“Keith,” The corner of her lips tilted into a small smile, “How are you doing?”

The raven tried to smile back,

“I’m alright, tired, it’s been a long day.”

Her smile dropped slightly as concern started to cloud her eyes,

“Keith…”

“No Allura,” He shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, alright?”

He opened the door wide and turned back towards the kitchen; it wasn’t long before he heard her following behind him. He walked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed a glass from out of the cupboard; getting water from the tap for his guest; as Mrs Shirogane used to do for the guests in their home.

He smiled softly as he thought of his foster mother; he really did miss her. 

He turned back to the entrance way and saw that Jou and Seth had made it downstairs. Jou was hugging Seth’s arm while Seth had his arms wrapped tightly around the younger’s shoulders. He knew when Allura had seen them because a light gasp had escaped her lips. Keith loved the smile that Seth and Jou brought to Allura’s face; he knew that if it weren’t for them, Allura would have drowned in her sadness and pain a long time ago. 

“Alright boys,” Allura smiled, “We should probably get going so Uncle Keith can relax.”

Keith rolled his eyes at the tall woman before going over to his nephews and pulling them into a tight hug. He kissed both of their foreheads and ruffled their hair,

“Now you two be good for your Mum, yeah?”

The boys nodded their heads excitedly before each of them grabbed one of Allura’s hands and pulled her out the door. 

“Keith,” She called over her shoulder, “Thank you again, and don’t forget that he’d want to hear from you too; so you should pop over for a visit.”

The raven forced back a wince, but nodded to show that he heard her. He watched as they made their way down the sidewalk and hoped into Allura’s car. He was about to shut the door when he noticed that one of the car windows were being rolled down. He smiled as both Seth and Jou’s heads leaned out,

“Love you Uncle!” Jou called.

“See you after school on Monday!” Seth smiled brightly.

Keith smiled back as he waved goodbye to them as they drove off. Once the car was out of sight, he closed the front door and sighed loudly. He loved them to death and he loved spending time with them, but Allura was right when she said that he was tired. He was about to wander over to the living room when a loud knock sounded from his door again.

“Jou must have forgotten Mankey.” Keith whispered to himself as he opened the door; prepared to see a crying face or an exasperated mother.

But instead of seeing Allura, he saw none other than Lance-quiznaking-McClain. Again.

Keith folded his arms across his chest as an eyebrow raised in confusion. He opened his mouth to ask the brunet what he was doing back there when Lance beat him to it.

“Why are you so impossible?!”


	7. The Hero Versus The Knight and the Unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith have their first of many confrontations and some things have finally come to light -- both intentionally and unintentionally.  
> Plus, some background characters are going to come into the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya Minna~  
> THREE CHAPTERS IN A ROW HOLY COW!  
> As always, I hope you enjoy the chapter and I apologise for Lance and Keith's complete OOC-ness, but when in these circumstances, it's bound to happen!  
> <3

Keith’s mouth opened and closed uselessly as the clearly frustrated brunet walked passed him and into the house. Until today, he didn’t think that he would see Lance ever again. He thought that Lance would stay in Olkarion and move on with his life; he hoped that the brunet would forget about him so that he could finally have the happiness that he deserved. 

He could feel Lance’s ocean blue eyes boring into his back as he robotically closed his front door. Everything in him wanted to just keep facing the door, but he knew that it wouldn’t help him; if he ignored Lance, the brunet would only get more annoying. 

He gulped dryly as his mouth seemed to lose any type of moisture. His fists clenched at his sides as he slowly turned to face Lance. He expected to see a pouting, petulant, perhaps even whining asshole, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. Standing in front of him, with his arms crossed defensively across his chest, was a devastated, confused and hurt human being who wanted nothing more than for Keith to give him some answers. 

The problem was, he wasn’t ready to answer any of the questions that Lance had. 

“Keith.” Lance hissed pleadingly, “What have you been hiding?”

The raven felt his heart pounding anxiously in his chest as the question was asked. He wished that he had actually made it to the living room and had fallen asleep on one of his couches; making this entire experience nothing more than a dream. Keith ran his hands over his face in frustration as he stared into Lance’s calculating eyes; there wasn’t a way he could answer that question without losing the brunet forever. 

No matter how much he tried to deny it or how many times he argued against it, it was his biggest fear…

He had to give up Lance once and he didn’t want to do it again.

He  _ wouldn’t _ be able to do it again.

But at this moment, he couldn’t do anything but stare at Lance blankly; anything he wanted to say was caught in his throat. He felt the back of his eyes burning as tears of frustration threatened to breech his barriers and glide down his face. Keith jumped slightly as a familiar warm hand clamped down on his shoulder causing him to gaze up into Lance’s eyes. 

“I…” Keith struggled for words and glanced away, “It’s complicated…”

Lance rolled his eyes in exasperation,

“You’re the one that’s making it complicated, mullet; stop running away and  _ tell me _ .”

The raven glared at the taller male darkly before pushing Lance away from him. The familiar anger that he used to ignite in his veins by his mere presence was roaring to life once more; it was something that he hadn’t truly felt in the past ten years. Keith pinched the bridge of his nose as he forced himself to take a deep breath.

“I’m not  _ running away _ ,” He spat, “If I tell you, it could change everything.”

Lance stared at him with wide eyes as he moved around the Cuban’s rigid frame and started to head deeper into his house. He heard his old friend’s feet pound against the hardwood floor as he followed him. Keith knew that Lance wouldn’t be able to let it go; he always pushed Keith unlike anybody else that the raven had let into his inner circle. 

He pushed Keith to share his feelings with others..

He pushed Keith to  _ care _ .

He flinched when he felt Lance’s hand wrap around his wrist securely, effectively halting him from moving any further. 

“How could your answer change us anymore than we already have Keith,” He insisted, “We changed each other because we refused to communicate; do you really want to do that again?”

His eyes widened exponentially as he turned to face the somber brunet,

“What are you talking about?”

The hand Lance had around his twitched briefly before his grip lessened and he eventually let go. Keith watched as the brunet absently shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and rocked back on his heels. It was habit Lance used to have when they were younger; it was a stance he would resort to when he started to get anxious.

“I…” He swallowed, “I talked to Pidge.” 

Keith raised a dubious eyebrow; though something unsettled in his chest,

“And, what does that have to do with anything? You’re friend’s aren’t you?”

The brunet flinched slightly causing Keith’s eyebrow to rise even higher,

“She told me Keith.”

His heart immediately stopped beating as the damning words left his friend’s mouth. 

He had to be dreaming now; there was absolutely no way in Voltron that Pidge would tell Lance about his feelings. Sure, Pidge was a gremlin and yes, she was terrifying when she had dirt on you, but she would  _ never _ betray his trust like this.

Especially when it came to Lance. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lance shook his head tiredly,

“Please, don’t do this right now. Stop pretending and just tell me what’s been bothering you for all this time; I have a right to know.”

Keith didn’t think that his eyes could widen any more. He felt his automatic defenses going up as Lance moved closer to him; his eyes analysing him as if he were some kind of science experiment. He fought back a twitch as Lance placed his hands on his shoulders and seemed to stare into the very depths of his soul. 

“Keith, I know the reason that you were able to push me away so easily was because I was too blind to see it and I know that I should have  _ known _ what was happening with you...”

_ Shut up… _

“We were best friends, sure we fought a lot and teased each other, but that was just part of us; that’s what it mean to be Lance and Keith -- you know rivals, neck and neck...”

_ SHUT UP… _

“That’s why I need to know Keith,” He pleaded, “I need to know what I did to--?”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

He felt himself freeze as he heard his voice echo around them in the quietness of the room. 

Lance was staring at him with hurt and disbelieving eyes and all he wanted was to be swallowed up by the ground. He breathed shallowly as he pulled himself away from Lance’s grip once more; his heart nearly breaking as he stared at the man he still loved. 

No matter how much he didn’t want to.

“Just shut up,” He muttered under his breath, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lance’s fists clenched at his sides,

“Oh yeah?”

Keith glanced away darkly; his eyes burning as tears threatened to spill,

“Yes, now  _ leave _ .”

His heart picked up suddenly as he felt long fingers touch the side of his face; wiping away a rogue tear that had managed to slip through. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the brunet smiling at him brokenly. Keith took a step back once more and cursed at himself for breaking down. 

“I can’t believe that you’re  _ still _ running.”

His head snapped around so fast that he almost got whiplash,

“What did you just say to me?”

“What,” Lance smirked, “is the truth too hard to handle Mullet?”

Keith growled deep in his throat and grabbed the front of Lance’s jacket; he pulled on him so that they were virtually nose to nose. A chill crept down his spine at the déjà vu the action caused. Lance was staring at him defiantly as he raised his own hand and clasped onto the wrist that was attached to his jacket. 

“You don’t know anything Lance.”

The Cuban chuckled under his breath,

“I’ve known you since kindergarten Samurai;  _ I know you _ and no matter how much you try, you can’t hide everything from me.”

The raven’s grip tightened dangerously,

“Shut your mouth Lance before I shut it for you!”

“Now you’re trying to shut me out, again,” The brunet’s eyes narrowed, “I’m not going to let you do that again Keith; it may have taken Pidge for me to realise it this time, but I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

“What do you think you could ever do to stop us from parting ways again Sharpshooter?” Keith demanded harshly.

It happened before Keith’s brain could even process it; one moment, his hand was tightened threateningly around Lance’s jacket and the next his arm had collapsed slightly pushing his chest against the brunet’s as the other man’s free hand laced itself through Keith’s raven hair and pulled him forward so that the small amount of space that separated them was broken. 

His eyes widened as his face was buried into the crook of Lance’s neck and the taller man’s other arm wrapped securely around his slimming waist.

Unbeknownst to him, Keith’s eyes slowly started to drift closed as his hand loosened from Lance’s jacket and wrapped his arms around Lance’s strong shoulders. Goosebumps started to travel along his arms as Lance’s hands accidentally brushed along the skin of his sides as his shirt had rucked up due to the sudden movements. 

However, as soon as he felt Lance’s thumbs approach the waistband of his jeans he froze. 

Keith’s eyes snapped open and he quickly yanked backwards as he pushed Lance so hard that the brunet rammed into the railing of the staircase. The brunet grimaced in pain and rubbed his back while Keith glared at him furiously. 

“Keith…”

“Did you waltz in here, into my home, just to make an ass of me?” 

“No, Keith, that’s not what I--”

“You just came here thinking, a  _ hug _ would fix everything between us? Are you kidding me Lance?”

His shoulders heaved as all his emotions welled up inside him like a ticking time bomb. Keith felt his tears roll down his face as he turned to face the person who held his entire being captive for over ten years.

“Just stop,” He swallowed thickly, “I get that my life is pathetic and that I don’t deserve much, but for this...”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Lance insisted, “Keith, I’m trying to fix things; why can’t you understand that?”

“What is there to fix?” Keith muttered, “I’m dying anyway.”

Lance huffed loudly,

“Will you just stop it; this isn’t like you! The Keith Kogane I knew didn’t know the definition of giving up.”

The raven slowly looked Lance in the eyes only to see them brimmed with tears of their own. He shifted his gaze away from the brunet and absently ran his thumb over his forefingers methodically. 

“Just…” Keith cleared his throat, “Please leave me alone.”

“I already told you,” Lance stated stubbornly, “I’m not leaving you ever again.”

Keith heard Lance’s footsteps and he prayed that he was heading towards the door, but he knew better. He could feel Lance standing in front of him before he saw him and tried to fight the urge to punch the brunet in the face or even worse start crying again. 

Lance reached forward and wrapped his hand around his lightly; the contrasting shades of tan and pale drawing his attention immediately. 

“I’m not letting you run.” Lance whispered as his fingers ran across his knuckles.

“Well too bad Sharpshooter,” Keith muttered as he yanked his hand away; exhaustion sweeping over him, “As you said, I’ve spent my whole life running and I’m not going to stop now; it keeps me safe from people like you.”

Lance’s eyebrows furrowed,

“People like me?”

The raven shoved passed the confused brunet once more and walked towards his front door. He pulled it open and stared at his childhood friend expectantly. Lance, however, continued to stand stock still with wide eyes. Keith rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest; the long held secret finally exploding from his chest.

“People who worm their way passed my defenses and gain my love only to break me instead.”

Lance’s jaw unhinged slightly as the words seemed to process in his mind. Keith braced himself for another confrontation, only for Cuban to wander almost blindly towards the door. Keith almost felt his body relax when the brunet’s hands suddenly landed on his neck and rested just above his collarbones. 

“You might not believe me Keith, but I will fix this,” Lance whispered, “And I’m going to do anything to prove it to you.”

Before the raven could respond, Lance left the house and even pulled the door closed on his way out. Keith stared blankly at the empty spot standing in front of him and felt the dark hole in his chest expand even further. He clutched the front of his shirt in his hand as he slid down the wooden panels and settled on the floor with his head buried against his knees. 

VLDVLDVLDVLDVLD

She sat on the leather couch and stared at the phone that she had just placed on the coffee table; tired of hearing the robotic inflection of the recorded woman who informed her that ‘ the line that she had been trying to reach had been disconnected’. She rested her arms on her knees and laid her chin on her hands contemplatively. 

She could hear him moving around the kitchen as he prepared their dinner for the evening. He had insisted that he do something special for her birthday, but any good mood she had was gone. She pushed herself to her feet and walked over to the kitchen; the smell of homemade spaghetti sauce reaching her nostrils. 

She smiled at her beau as he grinned up at her as she entered the room. She walked over to the counter and sat on one of the stools that faced him as he stirred the pot on the stove. She watched as he turned the heat from high to low before placing the lid on the pot and facing her. 

He leaned over the counter and kissed her deeply; he pulled away, but left a lingering kiss on her brow. 

“You look stressed,” He whispered, “Who were you on the phone with?”

The corner of her lips tilted up as she shook her head,

“No one important.”

He chuckled before kissing her once more and then wandering over to a cabinet to pull out a new pot and began to fill it with water. He adjusted another element to high and placed the new pot on it. She smiled as he walked around the counter and sat on the stool beside her; he placed a comforting hand on her knee. 

“Are you sure?” He asked curiously, “It’s obviously bothering you.”

She shrugged slightly and hummed,

“I just miss it sometimes, you know?”

He laughed,

“It?”

She rested her head in her hands once more and glanced over at her platinum blond boyfriend,

“What would you say if I told you I wanted to go on a road trip?”


	8. The Two Advisors and a Wake Up Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt decides that it's time that he checks on Keith, and wasn't expecting to find what he did and Hunk, after some domestic bliss, get's a surprise visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya Minna~   
> Here's a new chapter! Fam I like these constant updates lately and I love the support that I've been getting; you are all truly amazing!  
> Once again, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I apologise for any OOCness that occurs! <3

Matt stared up at the darkened, starlit sky as clouds started to make their way across it. 

Of course it would decide to rain as soon as he left his house; all he wanted to do was check up on Shiro’s kid brother and friend, but apparently he wasn’t even allowed to do that. He grumbled under his breath as he adjusted the collar of his coat so that it wouldn’t tickle his neck so much. 

As children, he and Keith didn’t particularly talk to each other that often; he was friends with Shiro after all, and they weren’t in the same age group at school. But over the past few years, they had become closer. After the return of Keith’s cancer, after Shiro’s return, they had inevitably become friends.

Though, Matt was willing to bet that it was because of how much he reminded Keith of Lance.

He chuckled at the thought of it as he turned down the all too familiar driveway that led to Keith’s home. If he remembered correctly, the boys would be back with Allura by now, which meant that the younger man was home by himself. Matt normally would’ve left the raven alone, but he had a feeling things weren’t going to go as per usual in the Kogane household; not with the Lance McClain bombshell exploding back into their lives. 

Matt rapped on the door loudly as he waited for Keith to open the door. He was about to search around for the spare key, as he had done earlier that day, when the door opened up enough to reveal an indigo eye staring at him. 

“Keith?” He raised an eyebrow in confusion, “What are you doing?”

Instead of answering, Keith quickly opened the door wider grabbed onto Matt’s sleeve and yanked him into the house. The auburn haired man nearly fell on his face when the raven released him and shut the door just as fast as he opened it. Matt turned on his heel, his face burning crimson from his clumsiness, when he got a better look at Keith. 

The male’s pale skin was drawn and his hands were shaking slightly as he slid the lock across the door. Only now, he noticed the distinct smell of alcohol that seemed to radiate around the entrance way; he had a feeling that the fumes were sliding off the man in front of him. 

“Keith,” Matt whispered with reprimand burning on his tongue, “Don’t tell me you drank; you know that you can’t do that.”

The raven turned so that he was leaning against the door; his arms crossed defensively over his chest. His eyes were half lidded and Matt was fairly positive that if he were to walk over to his friend and poke him on the shoulder Keith would easily tip to the side and fall on his head. Keith huffed through his nose and looked away from the seemingly looming man. 

“Then I won’t.” He muttered, “It’s none of your business anyways.”

Matt’s eyes narrowed,

“None of my business? You know what alcohol does to your blood sugar, you can’t just drink yourself to a stupor like the rest of us can without consequence.”

Keith rolled his eyes and shoved himself off the wall unsteadily. He stumbled passed the older man and made his way towards the living room. Matt followed the raven silently and watched as his best friend’s younger brother all but fell onto the couch and buried his face into a nearby pillow. He sighed loudly as he sat on the lazyboy across from him and laid his left arm on the rest and held his chin his hand. 

“You’re normally smarter than this,” Matt muttered absently, “Did Lance come back or something?”

The younger man was silent for a moment, making him think that Keith had actually passed out, when suddenly he sat up and rested his hands on his knees. Matt’s nose crinkled slightly when Keith’s pale face turned a light green. He opened his mouth to ask him if he should grab the raven a bucket when Keith dramatically pressed one of his pale fingers against his own lips in the universal sign of ‘shut the fuck up’. 

“What would you do if someone came over to your house, uninvited, and accused you of running away like a coward?”

Matt’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as Keith stared at him; his indigo eyes staring at him with an intensity that the auburnet recognized from Shiro. It was amazing how much the raven resembled his best friend despite the fact that there was no familial relation; he remembered that he even used to  _ envy _ Keith for the relationship that he and Shiro had shared. 

Matt had been friends with Shiro for a little over three years when the Shiroganes had brought Keith into their lives. What was so disheartening, and made him feel guilty for any sort of jealousy he felt back then, was the fact that Keith couldn’t have been more than three years old at the time; both Shiro and Matt being around eight.

“Keith,” He drummed his fingers against his own knees, “What are you talking about?”

“He just showed up ya know?” The raven slurred, “Just bursts through my front door demanding that I tell him what’s been bothering me for the past ten years; since when did he care?”

The auburnet’s eyes softened curiously and the corner of his mouth pulled down slightly, but was once again stopped from speaking when Keith cut him off.

“Ah, who am I kidding; he always cared,” He muttered almost spitfully, “That was the entire problem wasn’t it? He cared  _ so much _ for a useless, borderline dropout like me -- he has  _ always _ cared for me and I can’t even tell him that I love him.”

Matt’s jaw dropped when the sentence left his mouth; he had to admit that he didn’t see that coming. Sure, he had a feeling that Lance liked Keith back then, but he didn’t realise that Keith reciprocated those feelings. Now he finally understood why Shiro used to always roll his eyes and laugh fondly whenever Keith and Lance used to get into those spats. 

The auburnet sighed under his breath as he got to his feet and walked over to his inebriated friend and sat next to him on the couch. 

Keith slumped against the Matt’s side due to the extra weight and rested his head on his older brother’s firm shoulder. Matt watched the younger man from the corner of his eye and hesitantly raised his arm and wrapped it around Keith’s shoulders. He could feel the tension lining his back and the slight quiver of his shoulders as suppressed sobs were wracking through his thoroughly exhausted body. 

“Matt?” The raven muttered.

The older man turned to get a better look at him,

“What is it Keith?”

“’M sorry…” Keith sniffled faintly, “’M sorry for everything.” 

The auburnet stared at the raven with wide eyes; disbelief and confusion clear on his face. After all these years, Keith still blamed himself for simply existing. After all the time that they had all spent together, the raven still felt as if he didn’t belong with them.

“Don’t be stupid,” Matt spoke his thoughts, “You have nothing to apologise for.”

Keith voice broke,

“But if it weren’t for me the Shiroganes might still be alive, Shiro might not have thought he had to join the army because he could not afford a proper university education without it, which means Shiro would not have  _ lost his arm _ …”

Matt flinched slightly but tightened his grip on Keith’s shoulders. His hand slowly trailed up and buried itself in his raven hair. He frowned sympathetically as he felt Keith’s tears slide down his neck and into the collar of his throat. He trailed his fingers through the raven’s hair comfortingly as Keith hid his face from view. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, there’s absolutely no way that you had anything to do with what happened to Shiro.” Matt whispered soothingly.

“But…”

“No Keith,” The auburnet chuckled softly, “It wasn’t your fault; it’s just the alcohol talking, so shut up and go to sleep.”

The raven was silent once more, but Matt could tell that he had calmed down slightly. His breathing had eased and out of the corner of his eye he could see that Keith’s eyes were starting to drift closed. Matt smiled at him softly as he carefully adjusted the younger man so that both of Keith’s forearms drifted over his shoulders. He moved over enough so that he was able to wrap Keith’s legs around his waist and stand up. 

Matt staggered from the raven’s dead weight, but he still wasn’t as heavy as he looked. 

He made his way over to the entrance way and up the staircase that led to Keith’s bedroom. He pushed the door open with his hip and stumbled into the room. He cursed under his breath as his toe connected with the edge of a nearby dresser; honestly, he needed to talk to Keith about reorganising his room. He limped over to his friend’s bed and slowly lowered him onto the mattress. The raven shifted slightly from the movement, but fell back into the intoxication-induced abyss; Matt smiled as he pulled the sheets over his form.

He ran his fingers through Keith’s locks before turning on his heel and leaving the room. He closed the door quietly behind him and made his way over to the nearby storage closet. He pulled a spare quilt from a shelf and started his way down the stairs once more; Keith wouldn’t mind if he spent the night.

VLDVLDVLDVLDVLD

Hunk found himself waking as soon as the morning sun started to filter through his open window. He swiped at his sleep crusted eyes and stared blearily at his dead to the world fiancé as she continued to sleep. He couldn’t help but smile softly as he watched her; this was the first night in a long time that Shay was able to sleep soundly through the night. 

He ran the back of his hand across her tanned cheekbone framing her angelic face and rubbing his thumb gently underneath her eye. Back then, he would never have guessed that they would’ve gone through what they had and ended up together. They overcame so much, and loved each other so dearly.

Even he knew how truly lucky he was.

“Hunk?” A sleep slowed voice muttered, “You okay?”

The dark haired man smiled over at the newly awakened brunette and tapped her cheek playfully. Shay smiled back and pressed her lips against his jaw softly. He ran his fingers through her hair in response before sitting up in bed completely and cracking his back. Shay watched him and sat up herself and wrapped her arms around his neck before pressing her lips to his shoulder. 

“I’m fine,” He smiled at her softly, “Just thinking.”

“It’s like six thirty; what could you possibly be thinking about?” She chuckled.

He shrugged his shoulders,

“A lot of things; life has become decidedly more hectic lately.” 

Shay hummed in agreement before manoeuvering out of his arms and grabbing onto his hand. She pulled him out of bed and lead him to the kitchen to start their morning ritual; a large breakfast with coffee and music. It was honestly one of his favourite moments of the day; for more reasons than he could possibly name. Shay wandered into the kitchen and started the keurig as she started to dig through the fridge for pieces of bread and some eggs. 

“So,” She smiled, “What do you think is going to happen with Lance and Keith?”

Hunk froze for a moment before closing the cupboard door he was searching through; pulling some plates from the high shelf and placing them on the counter.

“I don’t know,” He sighed in slight exasperation, “Knowing those two idiots it’s going to be a painful process.”

The brunette hummed in agreement,

“Not to mention that Keith forgives just as an overprotective mama lion.”

Hunk choked on air as a laugh attempted to squeeze past his lips, prompting her to smile. She leaned into his tall frame when he wrapped his arms around her waist. He sincerely hoped that Keith wouldn’t not forgive Lance. Despite being apart for ten years, Hunk could still tell that they belonged together and he truly wanted nothing more than for them to be happy.

“Hunk,” She mumbled into the corner of his throat, “They’re going to be alright; when has Keith  _ ever  _ been able to resist Lance?”

The taller man laughed,

“Now that is very true; no one could rile Keith up like he could.” 

The toast suddenly popped up and he grabbed the pieces of bread; he placed them on the plates and started to smother them in strawberry jam. Honestly, Shay’s homemade strawberry jam tasted just as amazing as strawberry cake; he could eat them by the jar. He noticed as Shay glanced over at the eggs on the counter and wrinkled her nose in distaste; she made her way over to the fridge and put them away once more.

“What?” Hunk called to her as he poured their coffee into cups, “No eggs today?”

“We’ve had them every day this week,” She muttered softly, “We should try something a little different.”

“Alright,” Hunk raised an eyebrow, but continued digging for something else to go along with the toast, “We’ll have something else.”

He handed her some toast and was about to head to the counter to grab her coffee when someone knocked on their front door. He huffed under his breath loudly and glanced at the door as if it had killed his best friend. He quickly settled some silverware in front of Shay before wandering towards the front door.

With another sigh, he pulled open the door and opened his mouth to express a greeting of some sort only to freeze when he saw a complete stranger on his doorstep. Her long blonde hair was in two low tails and some slightly dark bags lined her maroon coloured eyes; but, it did nothing to take away from her inherent beauty.

“Uh, can I help you?”

“Yes you can, if you’re Hunk Garrett that is.” Her voice lilted playfully.

“Uh,” Hunk floundered; still dumbstruck, “Yeah that’s me…”

“Good, I was wondering if you would be able to help me find Lance McClain? I’ve been trying to find him and he used to talk about you all the time, so I thought ‘Who better to help me than his best friend?’ and so here I am.”

Something ominous churned in his gut as the next sentence sprung from his mouth; for he already knew the answer as soon as he asked.

“I’m sorry, who are you again?”

The girl chuckled playfully,

“I’m sorry, you probably don’t recognise me; the name’s Nyma, I’m Lance’s’ girlfriend.”


	9. And so the Tension Builds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shay and Hunk attempt to deal with their surprise visitor and Keith and Matt are coming to the conclusion that Arus is starting to become a very popular place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya Minna~  
> Here's another new chapter! Thank you for all the support I have been getting for this story -- you guys are truly amazing!  
> I am sorry for any inconsistencies that appear in this chapter and I am sorry for all the OOCness!!  
> <3

Shay nearly dropped her coffee cup as Hunk’s surprised voice reached her ears. With slightly shaky hands, she placed the cup on the counter and slowly made her way to the front door to see who had decided to drop in on them so early in the morning. Out of everything that she could have possibly expected out of the day, this was definitely not one of them. When she rounded the corner, she spotted a slight figure barely hidden by Hunk’s own frame.

The brunette watched the blonde calculatedly for a moment before allowing a disarming smile to spread across her face. She didn’t know who this girl was, but it was obvious that whoever it was wasn’t making Hunk feel comfortable.

She approached the two crowding the doorway and raised her hand in greeting; a soft smile on her face. Shay wrapped one of her arms around Hunk’s lower back as a sign of support and the tension that had somehow crept into his shoulders started to dissipate. 

“Nyma,” Hunk stated incredulously; causing Shay to raise a questioning eyebrow, “What are you doing in Arus, on my doorstep at seven in the morning, when I have never met you in my life?”

“Like I said, I’m looking for Lance and, I just assumed that you would know where he is.” She smiled teasingly and flipped her hair over her shoulders, “I mean with the way he used to talk about this place, I knew that if anyone were to know anything about where he was, it would be you.”

Shay fought back the urge to laugh as she saw the love of his life’s lip twitch; it took a lot to make someone like Hunk dislike you, but this  _ Nyma _ seemed to be garnering his wrath in a mere few seconds. And if she was honest, she wasn’t a huge fan of the girl either; there was just something about her that screamed ‘untrustworthy’.

Shay pressed her lips against his cheek and started to drag Hunk towards the kitchen; rubbing a soothing thumb into the back of his hand. She could hear Nyma following them, and it wasn’t a surprise given she seemed like someone who would invite someone else into their home. Now, normally she would just go with the flow and fade into the backdrop, however, there was just no way she could just stand around the house with this girl in it; especially since it would probably be good for her to notify a few people of her  _ unexpected _ presence.

She scowled faintly at the thought; she knew that her presence was either going to bring something good or something  _ very _ bad and she was leaning more towards the latter. Shay flinched slightly at the thought before seating Hunk at the kitchen table and placing his cup of coffee in front of him. She turned towards the blonde who sat herself across from her fiance and smiled at her softly as she placed her untouched cup in her hands.

“I have to head out; I was called into work,” She shrugged, “But hopefully I’ll see you later?”

She felt Hunk’s pleading stare burning into the back of her skull as Nyma nodded her head,

“Not a problem, I shouldn’t be too long anyways.”

“Not a problem,” Shay chuckled as he kissed Hunk’s forehead in apology, “Sorry love, I’ll see you in a couple hours.”

Hunk’s honey eyes softened, and he nodded his head nonetheless. She had a feeling that deep down he knew what she was actually planning on doing. She walked quickly to the bedroom and changed out of her nightwear and into her scrubs. She adjusted the black coat that she received from Hunk for her birthday on her shoulders before dashing through the house and out the door.

She had every bit of faith that Hunk would be able to survive; after all, no matter how uncomfortable he was, or how anxious he got, Hunk always managed to come through in the end. She knew that she would protect Lance at all costs; especially someone like Nyma. Shay checked her phone as she moved down the sidewalk and towards her car to see that it was only seven thirty; Keith was supposed to take his medication in a half hour so he was sure to be up now; that is of course if he remembered to take it. 

She shook her head as she pulled out of the driveway and onto the silent street. She found it strange that even after being on some sort of medication all his life, Keith still managed to forget to take his medication.

Shay found herself being pulled out of her thoughts by his cell phone. She glanced at her radio screen and recognized Rax’s number flashing repetitively. She sighed through her nose and pressed the Bluetooth button; as much as she loved her brother, it was much too early to deal with him. 

“Hello?”

“Shay,” Rax greeted, “How is my beautiful sister this fine morning?”

The brunette pressed her fingers to his temple,

“I’m alright, just making my way to work.”

The line was silent for a moment and she almost thought that they had somehow disconnected until he laughed. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and was about to ask him what the punchline was when he interrupted her. 

“You do realise that you’re off today right?” 

Shay’s eyes widened in disbelief before laughing herself,

“It is Sunday isn’t it? I really haven’t been myself lately.”

Rax’s chuckle reached her ear once more,

“Tell me about it, lately it seems you have the memory of a goldfish sister; you’re almost as bad as mom was when she was pre…wait…”

Shay felt her cheeks starting to heat up as embarrassment crept through her body,

“Sorry Rax, I’m about to lose you; I’m going through the Balmera Tunnel.”

“Shay, don’t you dare!” Rax rushed, “Tell me, are you?!”

She quickly disconnected the phone and her bluetooth.

She couldn’t let the truth get out  _ too  _ quickly after all; she hadn’t even had the chance to tell Hunk yet.

VLDVLDVLDVLDVLD

As much as he understood what Shay was trying to do, he really wished that she didn’t leave him alone. 

He really wasn’t any good in these situations, and the fact of the matter was that he did not trust this Nyma-girl in the slightest. Even when Lance used to talk to him about her, there was always something about her that he just did not like.

Hunk shifted his gaze from the now empty entrance way and stared at the person who interrupted his morning. Based on what Lance had just told him the other day, he was more than surprised to see Nyma on his doorstep. From what he understood Lance and Nyma were  _ over _ ; that’s why he had returned to Arus in the first place.

“So,” He tried to smile as he took a sip of his cup of coffee, “Why are you trying to find Lance? He couldn’t be that hard to find, now can he?”

Nyma chuckled lightly and ran her fingers along the cup that Shay had put in front of her,

“Normally he wouldn’t be, but I’m not familiar with Arus; no matter how many times he said he would take me here to meet his parents and friends, he never got around to actually doing it.”

The dark haired man couldn’t help but smile into his coffee at the comment. As much as Lance claimed to have loved her, as much as he used to sing her praises, the fact that Lance had never managed to bring Nyma back to Arus definitely spoke volumes. Something had to have stopped him from doing it, and he had a fairly good guess as to what, or in this case whom, it might have been.

“Yeah that sounds like Lance,” Hunk threw out absently, “He can get a little distracted at times; over the years I have wondered how he could have possibly survived without my guiding presence.”

“I don’t know if ‘survived’ is the right word.” Nyma teased, “But we’ve somehow managed to keep him alive in your stead.”

Hunk felt as the corner of his mouth turned down,

“Oh yeah? Who is this we?”

His hand tightened around his cup as he thought about what Lance had told him. Normally he was fairly rational and was willing to listen to both sides of the story; after all, there was a chance Lance could have misread the situation; he did have a tendency for the dramatics after all.

But the look in his eyes when he told them. 

It was next to impossible to fake the hurt that lingered in Lance’s eyes; seeing as he saw that exact same look almost daily when he looked into the eyes of Keith Kogane.

“He already told you didn’t he?”

The taller man jumped in his seat and focused his attention back on the blonde,

“What?”

Nyma rested her head in the palm of her hand and regarded him sadly,

“Lance already told you that we broke up; he told you what I did.”

He knew that it was more of a statement than a question, but he nodded his head anyway. Nyma sighed softly before straightening in her chair and pushing the half-finished cup of coffee away from herself. Hunk immediately recognized the defensive posture and internally prepared himself for the lies. 

“Okay,” Nyma smiled sadly, “Yes, I cheated on Lance with one of our mutual friends, but it wasn’t premeditated or anything; it kind of just happened.”

Hunk raised an inquisitive eyebrow,

“Pretty sure that it’s kind of difficult for things like that to ‘just happen’; I mean, we’re all adults here Nyma, we’re apt at making our own decisions.”

“Look, I didn’t think it would happen like that with Rolo.” Nyma rubbed her forearm, “The less amount of time I spent with Lance, the more time I spent with Rolo; I’ve known him forever, but he’s changed a lot over the years.”

“Yeah, people tend to do that,” Hunk agreed readily, “But that doesn’t explain why you had to cheat on him.”

The blonde pursed her lips,

“What, you expect me to believe that  _ Lance  _ was completely faithful to me?”

“Excuse me?” Hunk hissed warningly; an unfamiliar anger rising up in him, “Sure Lance can be a bit of a flirt, but if he was with someone he was  _ always _ faithful to them. He would have hung the moon and the stars for you if he could--”

Nyma’s eyes narrowed dangerously causing Hunk’s eyes to widen. He must have unknowingly set foot on a landmine. He was about to apologise and rephrase his statement, but Nyma didn’t give him the chance to.

“It’s as if you don’t actually know Lance,” She scowled; marring her pretty face, “It’s hard for him to hang the stars and the moon for me, when he has already done it for someone else.”

Hunk felt something rise in his chest,

“Nyma...”

She pushed herself up so fast that the chair nearly fell to the floor,

“Listen, I’m just going to head out; if you don’t feel comfortable telling me where he is, then I’ll just find Lance myself.”

Hunk was pushing himself out of his own chair, but Nyma was already almost out the door again; taking all the revelations and hope along with her. Hunk’s heart was pounding in his chest like a resounding drum until he heard the door slam shut. 

He buried his face in his hands and sighed exhaustedly; this morning was way too busy to be normal. He was about to start organising  his cold breakfast and reached for his phone to message Shay, when his phone had started to go off in his hand. He pressed the home button and watched as his lock screen lit up.

He felt the colour drain from his tanned face.

What had Lance gotten himself into  _ now _ ?

VLDVLDVLDVLDVLDVLD

Keith was wrenched out of his dreamless sleep by the sound of his phone going off somewhere to his left. He immediately clenched his eyes shut as the sun shone through the curtains and straight onto his sleepy face. He cursed colourfully under his breath and blindly searched for his blaring phone; every morning he wondered why he chose that dreadful nuclear alarm as his wake up call and every morning he reminded himself that there was no way that he would wake up otherwise. 

When hand finally found his phone, he sluggishly pulled it close to his face to see that if he didn’t get out of his bed soon, he was going to miss his shot…again. Keith groaned loudly as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position; the after effects of his alcohol splurge churning his stomach with even the slightest movement. 

He was about to push himself out of bed when he suddenly froze; how had he gotten to his bedroom in the first place? Keith’s eyebrows furrowed as he ran his fingers through his sleep tangled hair as he distinctly remembered Matt Holt showing up at some point during the night. 

Keith pressed his palm against his forehead as memories of the previous night, especially the conversation between him and Matt, filtered into his brain. He immediately felt heat spread over the bridge of his nose; why did he ever drink when he knew that he became a mush of gooey emotions whenever he did? The raven sighed loudly before pushing himself out of his bed and walking dazedly towards his kitchen to grab his carrier case.

He was halfway through the living room when he finally noticed the lump covered by Mrs. Shirogane’s old quilt on his couch. Keith was about to dive for one of his fireplace pokers when he saw the tuft of auburn hair poking out from the dark blanket. The raven snorted under his breath before making his way to his slumbering friend. 

Without pausing he grabbed hold of the quilt and pulled it off knowing that Matt would be so tangled in it that he would unfold like a poorly wrapped burrito. He guffawed as his older friend practically rotated 360 degrees in mid-air before landing unceremoniously on the hardwood floor.  

“Son of a!” Matt hissed as he struggled to push himself onto all fours, “You’re one pretentious asshole Keith Kogane!”

Keith smirked as he tapped his chin,

“Aw, and here I thought you loved that about me.”

The auburnet scoffed and got to his feet; punching Keith across the shoulder as he did so,

“Of course I do, when you’re not using it against me.”

The raven chuckled as he made his way passed Matt and towards the kitchen once more. He was aware of the auburnet following him and took no notice as he started to raid his kitchen for breakfast. Keith pulled out his carrier case and started his daily routine; he smiled as he watched Matt pulling out the griddle and Aunt Jemima pancake mix. 

“You just couldn’t resist the pancakes could you?” He teased as he started packing his kit. 

“I could resist this food sent from heaven above as well as you could resist certain brown haired, blue eyed Cubans.”

Keith grabbed a nearby coaster that was resting on the table and chucked it a Matt’s turned back,

“Oh shove it.”

Matt clucked his tongue at him playfully as added water to the mixing bowl,

“It’s not my fault that it’s true.”

The younger rolled his eyes and threw his arms up exasperatedly; there was no way he was going to win this. He heard Matt’s laugh as he stomped out of the kitchen and threw himself on the couch. He grabbed his remote off the coffee table and flicked on the TV only to see that the local news was on. He was about to flip the channel when a particular heading appeared at the bottom of the screen.

_ Massive Disturbance at the The Blade Restaurant on Marmora Boulevard – LIVE _

“Matt, you have to come watch this!”

He heard the auburnet huff from the other room,

“You know, I would if I wasn’t in the middle of making our delicious breakfast...”

“But a fight broke out at The Blade!”

A bark of laughter escaped Matt,

“I’m sure Kolivan isn’t going to react to well to that...” 

A chill travelled down his spine as he thought of the tall, broad shouldered man; he loved the older man as a second, or was it third, father but even he had to admit that he was terrifying to behold. If one were to mess with their restaurant, they probably wouldn’t escape with their lives intact.

“I guess…”

And that’s when he saw it… the familiar green army jacket with yellow accents being sported by a familiar tall and slender Cuban.

“Holy shit, it’s Lance!”

He heard crashes and thuds explode from the kitchen as Matt came running full speed and nearly fell over the arm of the couch. Keith’s eyes couldn’t have gotten any wider as a male with long platinum blond hair appeared on the screen and held Lance back from punching another unfamiliar platinum blond.. 

“Wait, is that Lotor?” Matt stated incredulously.

Keith nodded numbly, also not believing what he was seeing.

“What the hell is Lotor doing back in Arus?!”


	10. The Hero Meets His Match, and the Knight and Princess face the Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has some deep reflections, meets a few people he wasn't expecting to on this fine Sunday Morning, and Keith has a phone chat with Allura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya Minna!~
> 
> Sorry for the late update! I hope you enjoy the chapter!  
> I also apologise for all the OOCness on Lance's and Rolo's parts!! :D

Lance groaned as he grabbed a nearby pillow and yanked it over his head forcefully in order to hide from the intruding sun. Growing up he was always a fan of the sunrise and sometimes made a point of waking at five in the morning in order to catch the canvas of colours. However, he didn’t stay up until five in the morning most nights thinking about a certain raven haired man. He huffed under his breath and tossed the pillow across the room when he realized that it just wasn’t going to cut it.

He lazily pushed himself up and ran his fingers through his unruly brown hair. He could already tell that today was going to be a very rough day. He never functioned well when he was moving around with limited amounts of sleep; that’s why his residency put such a strain on his and Nyma’s relationship. He sighed under his breath as he tumbled under his bed and started to rummage through his suitcase; he really call his mama so that he could get out of the grungy hotel that he currently found himself in. 

But at the moment, he really couldn’t bring himself to do it.

He wanted to avoid the interrogations from his overly robust family for just a little bit longer.

Suddenly, for some strange reason, Keith and his house shot through his mind; and it was gone as soon as it appeared. He couldn’t think like that. There was absolutely no way in hell Keith would let him move into his house; especially after what happened last night. What happened the night before was the exact reason why he didn’t sleep that night. The expression that was on Keith’s face will probably always haunt him. 

The look of complete and utter betrayal. 

He had seen many people cause that look to appear on Keith’s face; and back then, he had promised that he would make sure no one would do that to the raven again and now he had broken his own oath not only once, but twice. At one point Keith was an important part of his life and he was just willing to let him go. 

He was willing to let go of the person who was with him through his high point and his low point. He was there when he got accepted into University and he was there when his Papi died…

Keith was always there, but he let him go and why?

Because he couldn’t get over himself enough to see what he was losing.

Lance buttoned the front of his pants and sat on the edge of his bed. He buried his face in his hands and closed his eyes. He knew that it would be next to impossible to get Keith’s trust back, but he wouldn’t rest until he got it. The more he thought about Keith, Nyma and what exactly happened ten years ago, the more he realized that he was a complete and utter idiota. 

He has probably loved Keith for all his life, but ignored it because he was afraid.

He wasn’t ready to face his emotions.

Those other girls, Nyma, they were what was normal…

He thought Keith would be okay, like he always was, but in reality he was suffering. 

He sighed again and slowly pushed himself off the bed; his stomach rumbling loudly. He gathered his jacket and wallet as he made his way to the lobby. After he ate, he was going to go visit Keith again and pray that today was going to go a little bit better; it had to. He just hoped Keith wouldn’t get too annoyed and get a restraining order against him or something ridiculous; or even worse, punch him in the face. 

He was so deep in thought that he hadn’t even realized he made it to the ground floor. He walked out the front doors, hailed a cab and instructed it to drive him to the most popular restaurant in town. 

Lance yawned loudly as the cab pulled up to the curb in front of The Blade Restaurant; the most infamous restaurant in Arus. He couldn’t help but smile at the gothic-style building that stood before him; he remembered the day it opened as if it was yesterday… after all, Arus was never the same after the Marmora brothers came into town. 

The brunet chuckled under his breath as he opened the glass doors and walked into the high arched foyer. A tall, familiar male with dark honey eyes and a long braid was standing at the host booth with his signature, no nonsense scowl on his face. 

Honestly with a face like Kolivan’s it was a mystery how the restaurant even got as many customers as it did.

“Hiya Kolivan,” Lance called as he approached the booth, “Long time no see huh?”

“Lance McClain,” The male nodded his head once, “Returned to Arus I see.”

The brunet fought back a frown and tried to keep the smile planted firmly on his face. He should have known that Kolivan might have been a little touchy with him. Keith was practically his nephew, so there was no doubt in his mind that the man was angry with him too. 

He was about to come up with some sort of, no doubt stuttered, response when an arm draped over his shoulders. Lance’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he turned to face the stranger who decided to use him as an armrest only for anger to quickly consume him at the sight of platinum blond hair and dubious brown eyes.

“You…”

“Hey there man,” Rolo smiled charmingly at the older man, “We would like a seat for the two of us.”

Lance growled deep in his throat,

“There’s no way in  _ hell  _ that I’m going to sit anywhere with you.”

The slightly taller teen pushed Rolo away from him so hard that the blond’s back collided with a nearby wall and caused all the air to rush out of his chest. Lance glared and stood over him as if he were possessed by a demon.

“Oh come now Lance,” Rolo coughed slightly, “That’s not any way to treat a friend.” 

“No it’s not,” The brunet agreed through clenched teeth, “But it’s okay if I do it to you seeing as you’re nothing but dirt.”

Lance was about to leave once more when the next words out of the cheating bastard’s mouth reached his ears,

“So basically you look at me like that dude from high school or whatever used to look at you?”

Lance’s shoulder shot up towards his ears as he winced at the accusation; a deep hurt burrowing in his chest as his friend of the last five years or so shoved one of the things he shared with him in his face. With all his strength, Lance shoved Rolo against the wall again and pressed so close to him that their noses were practically touching. 

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about you prick!”

Rolo smirked as he wiped his fingers across the blood that was draining from his lip,

“Seriously, Lance, after everything that you’ve done to him I’d be surprised that he was even considerate enough to think of you as dirt.” 

With reaction time that Keith might have even been proud of, Lance punched him across the face causing the blond to fly into another table. The people occupying it squealed loudly as they jumped out of the way and watched as their food went scattering on the ground. The brunet was faintly aware of Kolivan and the other Marmorans shouting at him to stop but he was too far gone now. 

He raised his hand and was about to pile drive his fist into Rolo’s  _ perfect  _ face when a strong hand wrapped around his forearm and started to pull him away from the blond. Lance struggled against the grip on his arm and almost escaped when the same firm arm quickly shifted to wrap around his waist. 

“Let me go.” He hissed as he continued to struggle.

“Calm down,” An accented voice sighed in exasperation, “Honestly, you’d think ten years away from Kogane would have stopped this type of behaviour.” 

The brunet stiffened at the familiar jibe and turned his head to see that the person who was holding him back was none other than one of his past school rivals (other than Keith of course) Lotor Galtean. In the back of his mind, he questioned when the Prince himself decided to return to Arus.. Lance quickly elbowed Lotor in the gut which in turn forced the blond to release him.

“I said let me go,” He hissed, “This has nothing to do with you.”

“Oh really,” Lotor smirked coyly, “What do you think Allura would do if she saw what you were doing right now?”

Lance’s eye twitched slightly in annoyance before shouting in exasperation,

“That’s not really any of your business how ‘Llura feels, but at least I’d get the satisfaction of beating the shit out of  _ him _ .”

“Well then… who am I to stop you?”

The brunet stared at the older male with his mouth hanging open before the familiar smirk of a shark on the attack slowly wormed its way onto his pale face. Lance was about to launch an attack on Rolo only to have the blond finally retaliate and football tackle him sending them both flying to the floor. 

Lance quickly raised his hands in front of his face as Rolo’s knuckles began to rain down on him. He growled loudly as he quickly brought his knee up so that it jammed into Rolo’s diaphragm and sent the blond sprawling off him. 

“You have no reason to attack  _ me _ ,” Lance scowled, “If anything you should be lying down and taking it.”

The blond smirked cockily,

“Then you’re more stupid than I thought; there’s only one reason why I would feel the reason to even come to Arus and you know exactly what that reason is.”

Lance’s eyebrows furrowed for a moment before his eyes widened in recognition,

“Nyma.”

The blond smirked darkly before leaning close to Lance’s face so that the next thing he said couldn’t be heard by the people standing around them. The brunet was about to push the blond off of him once more when Rolo finally decided to speak.

“She may be with me and in my bed,” He hissed, “But she’s still obsessed with making sure no one can have  _ you _ .”

Lance glared at him before slugging him across the face one last time for good measure. He cursed under his breath when the sound of police sirens reached his ears. It wasn’t long until the main doors of the restaurant opened to reveal none other than Allura with an annoyed scowl planted on her face. 

“Lance McClain, you’re not even in Arus for a day, hell I never even had a chance to  _ see you _ , and you’re already causing trouble?” She hissed exasperatedly. 

The brunet huffed and crossed his arms over his chest,

“I didn’t start it.”

Allura rolled her eyes and shifted her gaze over to Rolo who was getting checked over by one of the other patrons of the restaurant,

“I’m willing to bet that you didn’t, but you know better than to pull stunts like this; this isn’t like you at all.”

The younger man scoffed under his breath and glanced away from her with his hands in his pockets,

“It’s been a while Allura, I could have changed for all you know.”

The woman’s scowl cracked to reveal the smallest of smiles,

“I highly doubt someone can change that much; this is something Keith would pull, not you.”

When he didn’t offer a rebuttal, Allura huffed under her breath and ran her fingers down her face. Lance glanced up when he heard the doors to the restaurant open again. He surprised to see two children peeking into the restaurant. He watched as her vibrant blue eyes managed to land on them; conflicting emotions of fondness and annoyance warring across her pretty face. 

Lance flinched guiltily as he glanced over at the two boys approaching  and waved at them with a small smile on his face. Jou giggled and waved at Lance before running towards him and hugging him tightly. He ruffled the four year old’s hair and hugged him back; shifting his gaze to Allura who was watching the interacting almost wistfully,

“Hey there Jou, sorry for ruining your morning with your mom.”

The small raven smiled toothily,

“It okay! Mama’s just mad ‘cause she’s missing her morning pogams!” 

“That’s good,” He smiled broadly and shifted his gaze to Seth, “Hi Seth, how are you?”

The silverette blinked owlishly for a moment before shrugging his shoulders faintly. Lance sighed sadly before a small smile spread across his lips once more. Jou already liked him and that was a given, but Seth has been iffy around him since the first time they met. 

But even he seemed to be warming up to him a little bit.

“Look ‘Llura, I’m sorry for ruining your morning with your family; I’m sure you wanted to be with Sh....”

“Lance,” Allura cut him off abruptly; fighting back a wince, “listen, I don’t want to have to do this, but ”I have to take you to the station for public disturbance.”

_ Oh quiznak. _

“At least promise me that you’re taking that jerk in too,” Lance pointed at Rolo who was standing in a rather relaxed position against a nearby table, “He’s looking a little too comfortable if you ask me.”

Allura hummed under her breath to acknowledge him as she pulled out her mobile phone; signaling for a couple of her colleagues to escort him out of the building.

“Sorry Kolivan!” Lance called over his shoulder, “I’ll make it up to you!”

VLDVLDVLDVLDVLD

Keith couldn’t stop his mouth from dropping open as he watched the brawl on the TV. 

He blinked at the screen and watched as Allura and a few other police officers entered the restaurant. He was hoping that Allura wouldn’t have to be called in for something like this, but of course he hopes couldn’t be answered. He was about to ask Matt about his thoughts when he was cut off by the ringing of his cellphone. He cursed under his breath as he saw Allura’s name blinking across his phone screen.

He was really hoping something like this wouldn’t happen.

The younger man sighed loudly before pressing the green icon on the phone,

“Good morning ‘Llura.”

The other line was silent for a moment before a tired voice answered,

_ “There’s nothing good about this morning Keith.” _

He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed,

“I saw the news this morning…?”

_ “Yeah,”  _ She whispered,  _ “Do you think you could come get the boys?” _

Keith could detect the anger and sadness in her voice; he couldn’t help but feel guilty about the fact that Allura’s time with her sons was cut short…again. Even though it was her idea that he took care of the boys the majority of the time, he knew that she wanted to spend more time with them. 

She knew that stuff like this would get in the way of the boys frequently and she didn’t want to neglect them; therefore, she left them with him. However, if the doctors later this week deemed him too ill to take care of the children properly, then they would have to figure something else out.

“Yeah…” He told her, “Where can I get them?”

She sighed,

_ “I had to bring them with me to The Blade because we were heading to breakfast when I got the call; would you be able to pick them up there?” _

“That’s fine,” He smiled, “I’ll be right over…Allura?”

_ “What?” _

Keith chewed on his bottom lip for a moment,

“You do know you’re a good mum, right?”

The line went silent and he was sure that she had hung up on him. He was about to end the call himself when her quiet voice echoed through the phone,

_ “Keith…” _

He ran his fingers through his hair and he was aware of Matt looking over at him with softened eyes. 

“No,” He leaned back on his couch, “You are a great mum Allura, and they know it. Shiro would be so proud of you.” 

_ “Keith…”  _ She repeated softly; swallowing thickly,  _ “Thank you.” _

He chuckled,

“There’s no thanks necessary; you’ve been caring for the five of us for years, of course you’d be a fantastic mum.”

_ “You all sure didn’t make it easy,”  _ He could almost sense her smile from the other side of the phone,  _ “But those had to be the best years of my life.” _

“Yeah,” Keith smiled softly into the receiver, “Me too.”

_ “Thank you again Keith,”  _ She repeated; affection clear in her voice,  _ “I’ll see you later alright; Kolivan is staying with the boys waiting for you.” _

“Sure thing Princess,” He teased, “Now take care of loverboy Lance and stop him from doing something I would do.”

_ “You know he’s here?!”  _ He hung up the phone just as her surprised voice came through the speakers,  _ “Keith?!” _

He hung up the phone and threw it on his coffee table. He was pulled out of his musings when he felt Matt staring at him so intently that he was pretty sure that if he had laser vision there would be twin holes burned into the side of his head. 

“What do you want Matt?”

The auburnet seemed to stare at him for a few seconds before laughing softly,

“You’re definitely a strange one, you know that right Keith?”

Keith rolled his eyes before glancing over at him,

“Coming from someone who believes that he has the power of god and anime on his side, that is rich.”

The older man punched him in the shoulder playfully and ruffled his hair. Keith growled at him and pushed his hand away. Matt merely laughed and poked his cheek; quickly jumping off the couch as Keith dove at him. The auburnet smirked as he made his way towards the door.

“If you believe, you can achieve,” He wiggled his eyebrows, “You should keep that in mind when it comes to a certain lanky Cuban.”

The raven frowned and glanced away from him,

“Whatever.”

He heard Matt laugh…

He heard the lock click as it was unlocked…

He heard the doorknob squeak as it was turned…

And just when he was expecting to hear the door slam shut, he heard…

“Uh, and who might you be?”

**Author's Note:**

> As a side note...
> 
> If you like Klance/Laith and want to read some random Voltron rants, follow me on the Amino App -- I don't post often or anything...or say anything relevant for that matter, but if you want to take a peek, go for it!
> 
> Pseud: SportsnAnimeManiac <3


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